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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Economists warn high fuel prices could trip the world into global recession; Senate Republicans vote to strip protections from Minnesota's pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area; 16 years after catastrophic BP Oil Spill, Trump administration approves BP's new ultra deepwater drilling project; PLUS: Earth Day 2026 celebrates the only planet in the known universe capable of supporting life... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The ocean off California keeps breaking heat records; Supreme Court hands win to Chevron, Big Oil in environmental damage case; Federal bill would put Big Oil above the law; Record U.S. drought sparks fears about wildfires, water supply and food prices; Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought; Oil company founded by DOE chief Wright paid no US taxes last year ... PLUS: The wild wild Western water wars ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump threatens war crimes against civilian power infrastructure in Iran; Iran War is boosting global demand for solar panels, heat pumps, and electric cars; PLUS: U.S. West's mountain snowpack has melted early, raising fears of a record fire season to come... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Strongest El Niño in a century? What this rare phenomenon could bring; Drive slower, work from home and ditch the tie: the world responds to Iran war energy crisis; NOAA halts crucial dataset that helps measure Arctic sea ice; Trump's 'God Squad' blocks endangered species protections in the Gulf of Mexico; These maps show exactly where the West might burn this summer ... PLUS: Solar power in Africa is heating up — thanks in part to chili peppers ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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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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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! ...

As discussed with our guest on today's BradCast, there may be one "silver lining" to Donald Trump's unspeakably ill-considered war on Iran. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Before we get there today, some quick results from Tuesday's Midterm Primary elections in the great state of Illinois, where popular "kingmaker" Democratic Gov. (and almost certain Presidential hopeful) J.B. Pritzker is running for a third term, and where there was vigorous competition for four open U.S. House seats and an open U.S. Senate seat in this November's critical midterms.

Much of the action on Tuesday was on the Democratic side, given the deep "blue" nature of much of the state, and the location of many of the seats up for grabs, in and around Chicago. A win in yesterday's Democratic primary was about 99% of what is needed to ensure most of those candidates will head to Congress next year. So, many of the contests yesterday were for most, if not all, of the marbles. That's just one of the reasons why about $125 million was spent on races yesterday, much of it from special interest and dark money PACs representing interests and industries from AI to Crypto to Gaming to Israel.

Oddly, if predictably, many of the corporate media outlets downplayed the money (and, in some cases, the PACs that spent millions to come up nearly empty handed), while overplaying a dumb "Dems in disarray" narrative to suggest a divisive fissure between progressives and establishment Democrats with, as the narratives seems to have been drawn, progressives having taken a beating in Illinois last night. Some did. Some didn't. We offer some clarity on that point today. The real story was less the politics, and more about the money.

THEN... The world (and certainly Donald Trump!) may wish to take a lesson from China. The country has been assiduously going about insulating themselves from their lack of control over global oil and natural gas production volatility, thanks to the unpredictability of Middle Eastern wars and indescribably stupid world leaders like our own. China, in recent years, has been electrifying its economy, dominating clean technology supply chains, and installing more wind and solar than the rest of world combined.

All while Trump, back here at home, has been gutting our nascent renewable energy production and manufacturing industries by cancelling landmark federal government incentives enacted by Democrats during the Biden presidency.

Now, with fossil fuel prices spiking again, thanks to Trump's ridiculous war, and demand for energy rapidly growing (and consumer prices along with it), our guest today, RYAN COOPER, Managing Editor of The American Prospect, argues that solar and wind power are now very real, viable, inexpensive alternatives to Trump's outdated quest for a return to the days of deadly, expensive, coal and oil. Moreover, if previous wars have not, this one, he believes, should certainly highlight the fact that renewable energy, locally sourced, is an incredibly important national security imperative for nations around the globe...including ours. That, despite Trump and the MAGA Right's ridiculously self-destructive "drill, baby, drill" machismo.

"Over the last three or four years now, Europe really has drastically cut back on its consumption of gas, and has drastically sped up its deployment of solar and heat pumps, especially. And the reason is that those technologies are now competitive. Especially solar plus batteries," explains Cooper, who wrote about "The National Security Case for Renewable Energy" at TAP last week. "It's workable. It's ready to be deployed at scale. It is being deployed at scale in Europe, in China, all across Asia."

"The relative price advantage of solar and wind was already strong before this war happened, and now it's much stronger," he argues. "As soon as it's possible, as soon as we can get the Strait reopened, anybody with a lick of sense is going to be saying, 'Yeah, we've got to get rid of this oil stuff. It doesn't even make business sense. What are we doing here? This is stupid.'"

But, while the rest of the world is beginning to get that picture, will we ever get it back here in the U.S.? Will MAGA, who claims to hate forever wars over oil in the Middle East finally catch on? Will the U.S. auto industry come to rue their recent backing away from EVs under Trump, after redesigning plants and assembly lines for an electric future under Biden?

All of that and more today, including Cooper's explanation of his DIY solar panel and battery system set-up in his Pennsylvania backyard ("Feels like I'm giving a middle finger to the petrostate dictators and the oil barons."); why he believes Trump's decision to go to war in Iran is "the most purely deranged action by an American president in history"; and why he argues that: "When the dust clears, all nations with the slightest scrap of sense will be spending every available penny on energy security, meaning renewables," and that "you'd have to be a complete clod, a world-historical imbecile, a man evincing such staggering stupidity that it calls his very sentience into question, to not get it."

Know anybody like that?...

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I wish you as much luck as I wished myself in making sense of what we tried to make sense of on today's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

So, what exactly did we try to make sense of? Well, for a start, Donald Trump knows his War on Iran is a disaster. He knows that not only has he failed to bring Iran to heel as the vassal state he'd hoped for, but with their shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz (even just the threat of same), oil and gas production in the region is coming to a halt, global prices are skyrocketing, and the world faces the very real threat of a global recession in the bargain. All in time for U.S. elections this fall.

Among our stories related to these perfectly predictable and insanely stupid points on today's program...

• Trump is claiming that the Iran War "is going to be ended soon" and is "very complete", but that it also will "go further" and that we may hit Iran "twenty times harder". All as his Secretary of Defense vowed that it is "only just beginning". The last 24 hours have been a good deal more insane than that So, tune in for more.

• U.S. electoral history, in the meantime, suggests that oil at more than $100 per barrel in March (as it was on Sunday before rising to $120 on Monday and then dropping back below $100) is very bad news for the party in power at the White House during November midterm elections.

• All of this suggests that Trump had no clue what he was unleashing when launching his new foreign war, other than hoping that it would make more people like him and, importantly, distract from very disturbing allegations made in the Epstein Files that a woman who was interviewed by the FBI four times in 2019 claims to have been sexually assaulted by Trump when she was just 13-years old. The Post and Courier investigated details of the account the woman offered during her 2019 interviews --- now that Trump's DOJ has made the previously "missing" files --- finding that many of them were, in fact, verifiable.

• Just to further (try to) mess with your head, Trump's FBI, last week, subpoenaed records of the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden in Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona. We just learned about it on Monday. And, yes, it is all just as dumb as it sounds. We'll walk you through it.

• Amid all of this, on Monday, Trump absurdly stated that --- after his attack on Iran resulted in them shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, where some 20% of global oil and gas transits each day --- his threats and use of force to get it opened again should be viewed as "a gift from the United States of America to China." He said he hopes it "is a gesture that will be greatly appreciated." Among his many real gifts to China, however, is the ridiculous amount of money he is spending on wars both foreign and domestic, and his having gutted landmark incentives by Joe Biden and the Democrats for renewable energy and electric vehicle manufacturing in the U.S. On that latter point, last week, China's BYD, now the globe's largest seller of EVs, announced at a show in Chenzhen that it is introducing a new version of its EV battery technology that allows for some 620 miles on a single charge; will recharge from 10% to 80% in just over six minutes; and is guaranteed to last for 620,000 miles before needing replacement. All of those stats are currently "unheard of" for any EV until now, as detailed by Fast Company, blowing away anything that U.S. automakers, including Tesla, have been able to produce. BYD says the battery will be deployed across its entire 2026 model line, including its mass-produced vehicles in the $19,000 to $30,000 price range on up to their six-figure top-of-the-line luxury models. We still won't be allowed to buy them here in the U.S., of course, and Trump has gutted incentives for the EV and battery industries in the U.S. On the other hand, he is bringing back "beautiful clean coal"! So...Happy Golden Age of America!

• Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report touching on a number of related stories, including the environmental and climate impacts of Trump's War in Iran, where the rain has literally turned oily and while, here at home, despite the firing of Kristi Noem, FEMA remains a disaster...

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To be clear, as we discuss briefly at both the top and bottom of today's BradCast, there have been virtually NO election years in all of American history in which the nation wasn't engaged in some sort of war or foreign conflict. So, for those who see Donald Trump's latest attack on Iran as some sort of scheme to try and undercut midterm elections this year, well, it ain't gonna work, it never has, and though he may try anything, don't be scared by his nonsense. That's what he wants you to be. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

To that end today, we cover both Tuesday's first primary elections of the critical 2026 Midterms and the growing debacle of Trump's deadly, ongoing misadventure in Iran, which has quickly devolved into a broad regional conflict.

FIRST UP... We covered many of the top-line (and some of the not so top-line) unofficial results out of Tuesday's primaries in three states today. Tune in for all of it. But, among the most noteworthy results detailed on today's program...

No real surprises in Arkansas' primaries Tuesday, though there was yet another Special Election triumph for Democrats there yesterday, with another "blue" to "red" flip in the state House, as the Democratic candidate won by some 60 points!

In North Carolina, Dems got the U.S. Senate candidate they were looking for in popular former Governor Roy Cooper, who is now set to square off against Trump-endorsed, election denying former RNC Chair Michael Whatley. Neither primary was particularly competitive on Tuesday, though some 200,000 more voters turned out for the D contest than for the R race. Make of that what you will. The November election will be to fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, in what is perhaps this year's best opportunity for Dems to flip a Republican Senate seat.

After some late Primary Night chicanery by Texas' sleazeball Attorney General (and Republican U.S. Senate candidate) Ken Paxton in Dallas County, it appears the Democratic Party got much of what they wanted out of yesterday's contests for the U.S. Senate. Popular Democratic state Rep. James Talarico defeated progressive firebrand Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett by just a few points. But it was enough to win the Dem Senate nomination outright without heading to a runoff. Crockett gracefully conceded and called for party unity on Wednesday.

On the other side, four-term senior Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn has been forced into a weeks long, very expensive, and likely brutally ugly runoff with Trump's wildly corrupt pal Paxton for this year's Republican nomination. Dems couldn't ask for anything more out of the Lone Star race at the moment. Runoff day is May 26. You'll need plenty of popcorn between now and then.

There is quite a bit more that we cover on this beat on today's program, from a number of interesting U.S. House primaries and the ousting of three GOP-friendly state House members by three progressive candidates in NC, to a fascinating contest between two very MAGA candidates in the same state, including a very powerful one endorsed by Trump, in a race where the current margin stands at just two votes!

Please tune on in!...

THEN... Back to the War in Iran, which continues to spread throughout the Gulf region and beyond, as it becomes clearer by the day that the Trump Administration had no clear objectives when launching the war, and even less of a clue how to get out of it, at this point.

We're joined to discuss a whole bunch of related matters by Professor JUAN COLE, longtime historian, author and Middle East expert at the University of Michigan. He is also founder and chief editor of the indispensable, long-running Informed Comment blog.

I've got a ton of questions for Professor Cole today. Among them, we discuss...

• How what Trump likes to describe as our 47-year history with Iran (going only back to the Islamic Revolution of 1979), actually goes back much further than that and yes, as Cole explains, "It's all about oil, my friend."

• Who is left to succeed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following his assassination on day one of the latest assault by the U.S. and Israel? And is restoring the deposed Shah's son, Reza Pahlavi, any kind of real possibility (much less a good idea)?

• Isn't the targeting of civilian leaders both wildly illegal under international law and a horrible idea for a whole bunch of other reasons? ("You never want to take out the leadership that you're going to be negotiating with," notes Cole, observing that even Vladimir Putin seems to understand that much.)

• Cole has argued at Informed Comment that this war "is likely to be short", since neither the U.S. nor Israel have enough weaponry to carry out this type of combat for very long. In another piece today, he notes that Iran claims to have some 80,000 inexpensive weaponized drones that they are using in a "Techno-Guerilla War". They are to produce new ones at the rate of about 400 per day. They cost about $30,000 a piece, whereas the missiles needed to intercept them cost about $1.5 million per. The math is both unsustainable and the strategy unlikely to succeed, he tells me.

• And then there is "the reason that the U.S. has never waged an all-out war on Iran" before this week. It's because "the Persian Gulf region is the cockpit of the world economy" with 20% of the globe's oil and liquefied natural gas resources. Production has now all but halted in the region and, Cole warns, "if this thing actually managed to go on for any length of time, you're talking about a world recession."

Hopefully, that's enough to whet your appetite. But, if not, tune in for the good Professor's thoughts on what he sees as the real potential irony of this fine mess, and how it could end up boosting not just the fortunes of China, but electric vehicles and renewable energy, which Trump "hates like the Devil hates holy water"...

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Today on The BradCast: The critical 2026 midterm elections are now officially underway, with early voting having begun in Arkansas, North Carolina and Texas for their March 3rd midterm primaries. But Republicans are not done trying to undermine those elections with legislation meant to undercut democracy itself. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

FIRST UP... A few words on the passing, at the age of 84, of Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon, voting rights advocate, and two-time Democratic Presidential candidate.

Also, a few words on what appears to be the further collapsing of support for Donald Trump, as detailed in several new polls released in advance of the Washington's Birthday holiday yesterday, and as analyzed by CNN's Harry Enten. Bottom line for the moment, Trump's approval is nearing all-time lows among the public. It is lower than Joe Biden at the same point of his first term as President and even lower than Trump's own numbers at this point during his own failed first term in office. As Enten highlights, Trump is now 27 points underwater among independent voters.

"I don't understand how this works out well for the President of the United States. When you are 27 points below water, under water, with the center of the electorate, with independents, you lose, your party loses," explained the colorful Enten on Monday. With that in mind...

NEXT... If you're losing among the electorate, the Republican Party appears to now believe, don't adjust your policies to popular ones. Just change the electorate!

After seemingly failed mid-decade gerrymandering bids last year (quickly answered by Democratic states); after recent hollow threats by Trump to "nationalize" elections (he has no such legal or Constitutional authority); after ordering the FBI to raid the election warehouse in Fulton County, Georgia in an effort to continue the charade that the 2020 election was stolen from him (they still have shown no such evidence); the GOP seems to believe they can legislate their way to a more favorable electorate this year.

Last week, the Republican-controlled House narrowly passed the so-called "SAVE America Act" [PDF], formerly known as the SAVE Act, with every Republican member voting in favor. The measure would, among other things, if also passed in the U.S. Senate, force those newly registering to vote to somehow show proof of citizenship, in person, during the registration process.

The effort is part of Trump's long-running, evidence-free assertion that millions of noncitizens are unlawfully on the voting rolls and voting against him and, I guess, other Republican candidates.

The measure would also force states to run their voting rolls through a notoriously inaccurate federal Dept. of Homeland Security tool --- originally designed for something else entirely --- known as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (or SAVE) database.

That tool has, in recent months, been used by GOP-controlled states to check their rolls for evidence of noncitizen voters. In state after state, it has found almost none. Among the few that it has flagged as potential noncitizen voters, many of them turn out to be false positives, citizens who are inaccurately identified as noncitizens in the database, or noncitizens on the rolls who never voted, but were registered due to clerical error after making clear to DMV workers that they were not American citizens.

Nonetheless, the SAVE America Act, would both force use of that failed tool in all 50 states --- potentially resulting in lawful voters being removed from the rolls --- and mandate proof of citizenship when registering, despite tens of millions of Americans who have no easy, or free, access to such documents.

We're joined today by lawyer turned election integrity social media advocate JENNIFER COHN --- who has been reading through the various iterations of the newly renamed SAVE Act --- to discuss both the barriers it includes for new voters (or those who have recently moved and must re-register), the obstacles that stand in the way of Republican passage of the Act in the U.S. Senate, and what the real purpose of this insidious legislation actually is.

"Up to 69 million women could be disenfranchised by this bill because their last names no longer match their birth certificates because they've taken their husband's name," explains Cohn. She says that while the legislation mentions documents that might help women overcome that barrier, "They're tricky about it. They say, for example, that you could use a 'Real ID' if it indicates your citizenship. What they don't say is that only five states issue Real IDs that indicate your citizenship. So that won't work for the vast majority of Americans."

Passports will work, but they now cost $165 for new applicants or $130 for renewals. They also take time to obtain and require, in most cases, a birth certificate, which many do not have access to. Those may also cost time and money to obtain. But a birth certificate alone won't work either if your name has changed through marriage, or other reasons. And if you have a passport, but your name has changed since you obtained it, that will be a problem as well. Cohn notes that the Republican authors of the bill did something else that is "sneaky in the latest version of the bill. It still omits marriage certificates from the list of approved documents." So even those might not adequately offer proof of citizenship when coupled with a birth certificate during registration under SAVE.

There is much more to be concerned about, Cohn tells me, arguing that "the media really has not caught up" with what Republicans are trying to do with the SAVE Act and just how bad the SAVE database actually is.

While I explain that I think much of this is meant simply to frighten voters into not participating in elections, to scare them, to cause chaos --- especially as I see no path toward passage of the SAVE Act in the Senate --- Cohn thinks I may be wrong, that insidious plans may be in the works to force passage against the wishes of Democrats in the upper chamber, where 60 votes would normally be needed for passage in the 100-seat Senate. (Tune in for details on those insidious plans.)

She believes that people should be freaked out by all of this. If nothing else, she argues, so that they take action to call their Senators (202-224-3121) to demand they vote against SAVE, and to help people understand that this is much much more than a simple "Voter ID bill" as Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and other wildly dishonest Republicans are disingenuously attempting to portray it to the public.

FINALLY... Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report on the heels of last week's landmark rollback of the EPA's critical Endangerment Finding, which had allowed regulation of fossil fuel pollution under the Clean Air Act; and following a massive raw sewage spill at a federal facility near D.C., which Trump is attempting to blame on Maryland's Democratic Governor...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Fallout grows after Trump EPA revokes the Endangerment Finding, a key goal of Project 2025; Trump's dismantling of America's climate supercomputer threatens U.S. insurance markets; China's emissions have been flat or falling for nearly 2 years; PLUS: Massive sewage spill in nation's capital is likely the largest in U.S. history... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Some like it hothouse: Unleashing subsurface strategic energy assets to achieve unmanageable climate outcomes; Dem Senators Launch Inquiry Into EPA's Repeal Of Endangerment Finding; A new Ohio bill could be a de facto statewide ban on solar and wind; The voracious vine that 'ate the South' can also fuel wildfires; Hazardous South L.A. oil wells plugged after decades of community pressure... PLUS: Trash piles up in Havana as US oil chokehold halts garbage trucks ... and much, MUCH more! ...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Trump EPA repeals landmark Endangerment Finding, the foundation for all U.S. climate regulations; Trump orders Defense Department to use more dirty, deadly, expensive coal, subsidized by taxpayers; PLUS: Trump threatens to block new bridge between Michigan and Canada... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Yes, Climate Still Matters. Here's How It Connects to Every Other Crisis in the World Today; Trump kills EV charging programs in blue states;Solar Powered Super Bowl a First; "Devastating": Trump EPA to Scrap Landmark Climate Finding in Pro-Fossil Fuel Deregulatory Push; Trump Wants 100% American-Made EV Chargers. Some See Sabotage; The US Is Exporting Huge Amounts Of Natural Gas. Will It Cost Americans? [yes] ... PLUS: What Are The Biggest Climate Polluters Near You? ... and much, MUCH more! ...

There is, as usual, too much going on at once. That is, of course, by design of the sick, criminal gangster in the Oval Office. But it means that some of the most important stuff you need to know is getting lost amid all the noise. We do our best, on today's BradCast, to once again try to shine a spotlight on the most important thing you are least likely to hear the least about elsewhere. [Audio link to full story follows this summary.]

First off, a few stories you may hear something about today.

• The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suddenly, without notice or explanation, shut down the air space above the El Paso, Texas airport on the border with Mexico early on Wednesday for ten days. A few hours after the surprise announcement, the FAA said "never mind" and reopened it with little explanation. Early reporting suggests some sort of rift between the Pentagon and the FAA regarding drones flown by Mexican drug cartels into the U.S., and the testing of some sort of new anti-drone laser weapon in response. But, as Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), whose district includes El Paso, said, "the information coming from the federal government does not add up." It doesn't. But we've got an alternative explanation that makes at least as much sense as the government's, and it has something to do with Donald Trump's longtime threats of war against our (former?) ally across the Southern Border.

• Also today, Trump's demented U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi embarrassed the nation (and herself) again during U.S. House testimony regarding the DOJ's unlawful cover-up of the Epstein Files. We share some of the low-lights from Bondi's remarkably snide behavior before the House Judiciary Committee this afternoon, when she pretended to be angry that Democratic members wanted to talk more with her about Epstein and law enforcement, than about the stock market (bizarrely enough).

NEXT... The news you are almost certainly not hearing enough about this week, especially as it is news likely to adversely affect every single American --- and everyone else on our quickly warming planet --- for generations to come.

The corrupt Trump Administration's EPA is set to announce on Thursday that it is overturning the so-called "endangerment finding", initially issued by the EPA under George W. Bush, even though his Administration refused to open the email containing it at the time.

The endangerment finding was first drafted in response to a landmark 2007 Supreme Court case named Massachusetts v. EPA. The SCOTUS majority held at the time that under the mandates of the Clean Air Act, if greenhouses gasses that warm the planet, such as Carbon Dioxide and Methane, were found by the EPA to be "air pollutants" that can "reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare," the government was required to regulate them.

The EPA's eventually finding was officially adopted by Barack Obama's Administration, and is now the basis for the bulk of federal regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in the transportation sector, but many others as well. The fossil fuel industry has sought for years to overturn the scientific finding. Doing so would lead to the end of a majority of the federal government's climate related regulations.

Thanks to the corrupted Trump Administration, and a ridiculous Dept. of Energy "report" created by five climate science-denying stooges (unlawfully empaneled, according to a recent federal court ruling), the finding will be overturned on Thursday, in what Trump allies are describing as "total victory," following more than 15 years of work to restore the halcyon days of unregulated destruction of the atmosphere by the unmitigated burning of fossil fuels. The "total victory" comes as the last 11 years have been confirmed as the hottest ever recorded on planet Earth.

So, what does all of this mean? Can it be stopped in the courts? Can states now institute their own climate regulations to replace those likely to be ended by the federal government?

We're joined today by DAN BECKER, Director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign at the Climate Law Institute of the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity. Becker has long been a key player in the fight against climate change. He developed the strategy and led the fight for the Obama Administration's landmark program to cut emissions from cars, SUVs and pickups, the largest step any nation had taken at the time to slash climate warming emissions.

"It's huge," Becker tells me about the revocation of the finding. "Unfortunately, what the Trump Administration folks are going to do is not only revoke the Endangerment Finding, but they are going to repeal the biggest single step that any nation has ever taken, that used the Clean Air Act as a mechanism to cut pollution from cars," which are "the biggest problem, the biggest source of emissions in the United States."

"This is going to make kids sicker because there will be more air pollution. Kids with asthma will have more frequent asthma attacks. They'll miss more school. Their parents, who will have to stay home to take care of them, will miss more work. People with lung disease will suffer and some will die. People with heart disease will also have increased early deaths," he laments, describing some of the most immediate fallout from all of this.

But, while "this is bad for people," Becker says, "it's good for China because the Chinese auto industry wants to make a market in clean vehicles. And if they have no competition from United States automakers because the US automakers are going to make gas guzzlers as a result of not being required to make clean vehicles, then the Chinese manufacturers will win."

"That isn't really good for American workers. It's not good for American profits," he asserts, before adding: "They're laughing all the way to bank, as Trump does what General Motors told him to do."

All of this was "pre-cooked," explains Becker, when the oil and auto industries came aboard the Trump campaign. "The oil industry alone contributed $450 million dollars, and Trump said, 'If you give me a billion, I'll do anything you want.' This is the 'anything they want,' and they're getting it wholesale." It was, of course, "all pre-cooked, written out, and the menu laid by the Heritage Foundation" in Project 2025. Heritage, he notes, "is also funded by the oil industry."

So, a whole lot more on all of this today, including what you can do about it. Tune in and please share this one, as I expect most folks will hear little or nothing about it, with all of the other madness playing out, preventing most from ever even hearing about the thing that may cost them their jobs, their money, their health, and potentially even their own lives and those of their children and grandchildren...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Polar vortex returns to slam much of the US with extreme cold and storms; New study warns of 'global water bankruptcy'; Mozambique grapples with extreme flooding; PLUS: Donald Trump peddles intensely stupid lies about wind energy... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Half of fossil fuel carbon emissions in 2024 came from 32 companies; House votes to repeal ban on mining near Boundary Waters wilderness in Minnesota; Geothermal a valuable, but overlooked clean energy source; CAFOs: This is why our rivers are turning into sewers; Winter drought grips the U.S.; California exceeds clean car goal despite declining federal support... PLUS: New rules: less ice, more ICE... and much, MUCH more! ...

On today's BradCast: It's been less than two weeks since he ordered the U.S. military invasion of a sovereign nation, killed about 80 people, kidnapped their leader and his wife to put them on trial for something or other here in the U.S., claimed he now "runs" their country and controls their natural resources, to exploit and sell as he pleases, the money from which will be held in offshore bank accounts controlled by him. Oh, and he's now declared himself "Acting President" there. And we almost don't discuss any of it anymore, because he's moved on to his next several imperial conquests, not to mention his deadly militarized assaults of thousands of people who live in U.S. cities, including American citizens. As Jon Stewart recently asked in exasperation, "What are we even doing here?!" Good question, Jon. [Audio link to full program follows this summary.]

Before we try to make some kind of sense --- any kind of sense --- of all of that, a few other news items of note today...

• And then they came for the journalists... Donald Trump's FBI raided the home of a Washington Post reporter on Wednesday, seizing her laptops, her phone and her smartwatch, as part of a supposed classified documents leak investigation requested by the Pentagon. The Post's Executive Editor described it as an "extraordinary, aggressive action [that] is deeply concerning and raises profound questions and concern around the constitutional protections for our work." The New York Times characterized the raid on a journalist's home as "a significant escalation in the Trump administration's tactics in seeking information from the news media." The journalist, Hannah Natanson, as AP explained, "has reported extensively on the federal workforce and recently published a piece describing how she gained hundreds of new sources --- leading one colleague to call her 'the federal government whisperer.'"

• Here we go again?... In Qatar today, some personnel at a major U.S. air base that houses thousands of troops are reportedly being advised to evacuate immediately, amid growing unrest in Iran, the killing of hundreds of anti-government protesters by the ruling regime in Tehran, and Trump's vows to those protesters that "help is on the way." The base, Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha, was targeted in Iran's response to the U.S. attack on nuclear facilities last July.

Then, as Mad King Trump saber rattles with both Iran and, perhaps even more incredibly, our NATO ally of Greenland, there is still the matter of his recent invasion of Venezuela less than two short weeks ago, and the power vacuum left in its wake as he tries to convince reticent American oil companies to go plunder the nation's vast oil reserves.

None of it is lawful. And, of course, none of it makes any sense. But, also, none of it is over, even if he, we, the media have, for the moment, moved momentarily on to other Trump-induced nightmares.

"This isn't close to over," argues my guest today, NICHOLAS GROSSMAN, International Relations professor and political scientist at the University of Illinois. He is quick to compare Trump's rush to praise himself for the attack and abduction of Venezuela's President, Nicolas Maduro, to George W. Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech in 2003, just after the initial assault on Iraq, before the nation would quickly devolve into years-long, deadly chaos and violence.

"Tactically," Grossman concedes, the operation in Venezuela "was very impressive. But not strategically so." He describes reports in recent days of runs on banks, stores, and paramilitaries in the streets, arguing that the "competitions for power" are just beginning. "The situation is likely to devolve rather than stabilize. Or just have a spate of violence, and then at which point the regime re-stabilizes. It's unclear why that would be better than where it was with Maduro in charge."

Grossman, who teaches classes on terrorism insurgency, national security policy and 21st century technology and warfare, wrote about Trump's unlawful assault last week, detailing how it is likely to make things worse, not better, in Venezuela, the United States, and elsewhere in the region.

Moreover, he tells me today, despite Trump's rhetoric, all of this is unlikely to result in a rush of American oil companies to exploit the nation's resources. "This is where the lack of any sort of follow-on plan creates such a problem," says Grossman. "There is not a reliable security situation there, especially long term. There's not reliable rule of law." Add that to a glut of oil already on the market keeping prices (and profits) low; a particularly dirty and difficult-to-refine crude available there; and it seems unlikely that any of this will actually pay off for anybody.

So, why, in fact, was it done in the first place? On that, argues Grossman: "It doesn't really need to be only one reason. It's many things possibly at once. A lot of it, I do think, is demonstration of power. Because they can."

"Nothing Trump and his administration have done have seemed to conceive of national interest in the same standard way that Presidents, various leaders, voters of both parties, had in the United States for many years. There's 'because I can, because then people will be more afraid of me, because people will be more likely to pay me off.'"

He speculates on other explanations as well, and rings in on where Trump's militaristic tirade is likely to bring the U.S. next, even if things begin to further devolve in Venezuela at the same time.

"The biggest effect seems to be that it has emboldened him. And emboldened actors such as Pete Hegseth, where they don't think anybody can stop them. And they certainly don't care about violating norms, or the long term risks of upsetting the international order."

There is much more troubling stuff to chew over in my broad conversation with Grossman today. I hope you'll tune in...

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If the first week of the new year is any indication of what's to come, Year Two of the second Trump Presidency is going to be even more nightmarish than many of us have been warning. Several fresh nightmares along those lines are unfolding on today's BradCast, as the President of the United States' obliteration of the Constitutional Order and Rule of Law grows more violent and grotesque by the day. It may only be outpaced by his determination to destroy what is left of our livable planet [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

With Donald Trump's federal immigration thugs now shooting and murdering Americans at point blank range in American cities with impunity (by the dozens), it's clear that the Rule of Law at the federal level no longer exists. We're all gonna have to get used to that idea for a while I'm afraid. We've got several examples of that today.

FIRST... we're joined by JEAN SU, Senior Attorney and Director of the Energy Justice Program at the Center for Biological Diversity. She joins us today on the heels of last night's White House announcement Trump is withdrawing the United States from the nearly 30-year old bedrock international climate agreement that forms the basis for virtually every climate pact since then meant to stave off or mitigate the effects of our quickly accelerating climate crisis.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a treaty to which every single nation in the world is a member. It was originally signed by Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and ratified unanimously by the U.S. Senate. On Wednesday night, however, Trump unilaterally declared he is withdrawing the U.S. from that pact and 65 other international organizations and treaties which, the White House said, "no longer serve American interests."

Su and the Center for Biological Diversity describe Trump's unilateral withdraw from the UNFCCC as unlawful and unconstitutional. "It is an illegal exit from the treaty," Su argues today. "The Constitution is crystal clear about how we can, as a country, enter treaties" with a two-thirds vote of the U.S. Senate for ratification. "But the Constitution is silent on the withdrawal of treaties. It's our legal view, along with other international law organizations, that no, it is not legal for a President to unilaterally undo what a unanimous Senate passed."

She characterizes the UNFCCC as "the 'mother ship' of all collective climate bargaining and negotiations around the world." The Paris Climate Agreement, for example, which is not a treaty, but a voluntary pact, was created in 2016 under that "mother ship" treaty in hopes of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Trump already pulled the U.S. from the Paris Agreement last year. Withdraw from the UNFCCC however, as Su tells me, would be even far more devastating to both the climate AND U.S. economic interests.

"The global climate treaty ends up being a place where different governments can negotiate economic deals and band together and say, 'We want the world to move off fossil fuels and towards a renewable energy future.' When you have the entire world and the global economy making those moves, the U.S. suffers by being a pariah on that. And in that way, U.S. consumers, citizens, we all suffer economically by being the odd-man out."

But other nations are quickly filling that vacuum. Trump's failure to lead on renewable energy and electric vehicles has allowed China to become the world's top manufacturer of both, as Trump tries instead to revive the dirty, deadly, dying coal and oil industries. "He has these partnerships with deeply entrenched corporate monopolists in this country, and he is literally going around the world pillaging it for those interests," says Su. "And it is an international security threat."

When she last joined us on the show just after Trump's second election victory in November of 2024, Su described him as a "climate-denying fascist" who would "strip the Environmental Protection Agency [and] the Civil Rights Division of the Dept. of Justice" until the "administrative apparatus" at both were "entirely smothered, stripped bare, and not functional in any way, in terms of actually protecting our environment and our health and safety." She couldn't have been more right about that, as evidenced over the past year. She also described, at the time, several "bright spots" she saw nonetheless. Today, we discuss some of those bright spots again to see if they remain as bright as she'd hoped they would back in late 2024.

Please tune in for a really informative conversation on all of the above and more.

THEN... Speaking of disrespect for our Constitutional Order and Rule of Law, a fifth U.S. District Court Judge today has now ruled that a fifth U.S. Attorney appointed by the Trump Administration is serving in the role unlawfully and in violation of the Constitution. John Sarcone III, the nation's top prosecutor in the Northern District of New York is "not lawfully appointed" as U.S. Attorney, according to the federal judge, who issued her opinion in a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, attempting to quash grand jury subpoenas obtained by Sarcone seeking information on the two massive civil fraud cases James successfully brought against Trump and the National Rifle Association.

Meanwhile, over in the Eastern District of Virginia this week, a federal judge --- one appointed by Trump himself! --- took it upon himself to issue an order to Lindsey Halligan, giving her seven days to explain why she is still serving in the role of U.S. Attorney after a different federal judge, last November, found that she was unlawfully serving in the post. The judge's ruling last year resulted in the dismissal of revenge indictments obtained by Halligan at Trump's orders against both James and former FBI Director James Comey. Nonetheless, Halligan is still serving in the position, with one judge in the District even including an asterisk by her name whenever she is mentioned in court documents, denoting last year's ruling of her unlawful appointment.

With five top federal prosecutors illegally heading up the DOJ facilities in major jurisdictions (the others are New Jersey, Nevada and Los Angeles), it is clear that the Trump Administration and Attorney General Pam Bondi believe they have no legal requirement to follow any of the nation's laws.

FINALLY... With more lawlessness and ill-considered climate-related actions by the Administration, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as Trump's unlawful Venezuela attack becomes even more unlawful; as the Administration announces thousands of layoffs at FEMA amid ever-worsening climate disasters; and as Los Angeles struggles to rebuild following two deadly, devastating climate change-fueled wild fires that destroyed thousands of homes one year ago this week...

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Today on The BradCast: Don't let our ridiculous, sociopathic President's absurd antics and unspeakable corruption prevent you from losing sight of the relentless, damaging effects of his simple, terrible, policy-making decisions, and the increasingly high costs Americans are paying for them. Even regarding policy-making decisions that Trump previously vowed he would not make. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

As you know, Donald Trump ran in 2024 on a promise to decrease costs for consumers on "day one", vowing to "make American affordable again." Now he claims the word "affordability" has been made up as part of another "Democrat hoax", and that his policies --- including massive tariffs which serve as a tax on every American --- are actually lowering prices. They aren't.

Similarly, he repeatedly vowed to never touch Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. He is now gutting all three of them in various ways, as even Fox "News" pointed out today, believe it or not, noting that "Trump broke his promise to protect a lifeline for 71 million Americans." Not to mention his massive cuts to the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) that go into effect on January 1, increasing the cost of health care for everyone, even those with employee health care plans.

Back in October, after Trump's tariffs pushed away the world's largest soybean customer, China, Trump claimed to have made a "deal" with them their purchase of 12 million metric by the world's largest customer by year's end. Instead, China has purchased a quarter of the amount that the Administration claimed the Great Deal Maker had secured. American farmers are now facing bankruptcy while consumers are paying more everything, including for beef, the price of which has spiked thanks, in no small part, to climate change-fueled drought. (Climate change, as Trump will tell you, is just another "Democrat hoax," of course.)

In hopes of mitigating the damage his policies have caused for farmers, on Monday, Trump announced another new bailout for the ag industry. (The Administration is, euphemistically, calling it a "bridge payment".) The latest aid package is for some $12 billion to farmers as overseas customers, especially China, have fled, while prices for fertilizer and seed are up (also thanks to Trump's tariff tantrum) and the labor market is scarce, thanks to Trump's immigration policy thuggery. The new aid package follows on two similar farmer bailouts during Trump's first term --- when he originally began his trade war against China --- for $22 billion in 2019 and a whopping $46 billion in 2020.

As if all of that isn't bad enough, last week Trump announced a new rule to reverse money- and life-saving fuel efficiency standards enacted by Joe Biden for cars and trucks. He claimed that encouraging the manufacture of more polluting cars and cutting $7,500 incentives for clean electronic vehicles would somehow make the purchase of new cars $1,000 cheaper in the U.S. than they would have been under the Biden rules.

All of that is nonsense. It is as absurd as Trump's years-long bluster about ending a "Biden EV mandate" that never actually existed, as explained by our guest today, DAN BECKER, Director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign at the Climate Law Institute of the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity. Becker has worked for years at the Campaign, developing the strategy and fight for the biggest single step any nation has taken to fight global warming: The Barack Obama Administration's ground-breaking program to cut deadly greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution in half from cars, SUVs and pickup trucks. Biden furthered that program with additional efficiency standards. And, last week, Trump announced he was doing away with them.

"In one stroke," Becker told AP, "Trump is worsening three of our nation's most vexing problems: the thirst for oil, high gas pump costs and global warming." Today, Becker joins us to dive into the details.

The previous CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standard enacted by Obama and then Biden "saves gas. And by saving gas, you save money at the pump because you don't have to fill your tank with as much gas, or go as often. And when you burn less gas, you pollute less," Becker tells me today. "In fact, every gallon of gas burned pumps 25 pounds of carbon dioxide pollution into the atmosphere. And we burn a lot of gallons. So this is a major source of global warming pollution. And the US, because we drive a lot more than other folks, we drive more gas guzzlers than other folks, and we drive them further. We are the biggest auto polluter on the planet. And Trump is only going to make that much worse."

The Obama/Biden rules "represent the biggest single step that any nation has ever taken to cut use of oil --- saving you money at the pump --- cut pollution that is a result of burning that gas in your car," Becker explains. "And it's really unjustifiable to watch the President of the United States tear up this very valuable protection for consumers, for the environment, cutting our dependence on foreign oil, and at the same time lie, and say 'Oh, it's actually a good thing for you because you will save money.' Because, in fact, it will cost you much more at the gas pump than you would save upfront with a dirtier car."

All the while, China is expanding their sale of Electric Vehicles around the world at a massive pace --- even while they, essentially, aren't allowed to be sold in the U.S. (unless you are willing to pay a 100% tariff). "They're selling like hotcakes in Asia, Europe, South America, and Africa. But we don't buy them here," says Becker. In the bargain, however, U.S. automakers --- including those who joined Trump at the White House last week for his announcement --- are, shooting themselves in the foot. "The reality is that the auto companies are working with Trump to create their own grave," warns Becker.

Why are they doing this? Tune in today for an explanation of that and much more, as Trump's policies --- never mind his bluster and daily sociopathy --- are costing Americans a fortune...and even their lives...

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