The BRAD BLOG

LAPD Right-Wing Bias in Violent Response to UCLA Protest Was No Surprise

Ernest A. Canning — Wed, 15 May 2024 17:05:07 +0000

The May 3 article that appeared in UCLA's campus newspaper, the Daily Bruin, was disturbing but not surprising. The LAPD stood idly by as a group of "tear gas" wielding, pro-Israel "counter-protesters" violently attacked a pro-Palestine protest encampment. The attack reportedly went on for nearly four hours before the LAPD moved in, not to stop counter-protester violence, but to breakup the encampment.

In a formal Statement, staff members of the UCLA History Department noted:

LAPD advanced on the student encampment, pushing and herding them, using the tactic of kettling. Forced closely together, the students made easy targets for police who shot them with stun grenades, chemical agents, and rubber bullets. Police beat them with batons and shot them with rubber bullets, striking one student in the face with a rubber bullet. At least twenty-five students had to be hospitalized. They then arrested approximately 200 students, staff, faculty, dragging visibly injured students away.

The history professors chastised both University of California administrators and the LAPD for their "disregard" for "students' safety and their right to express their views."

The professors weren't the only ones to express concern for law enforcement's failure to intercede as pro-Israel "counter protesters" violently attacked the encampment. California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to the Los Angeles Daily News, "called for investigations into [why the] pro-Israeli counter-protesters' attack...was allowed to rage for several hours with little to no police intervention."

Sadly, the story, as recounted by the Daily Bruin and the UCLA history professors, is on the continuum of well over a century of right-wing bias on the part of local, state and federal law enforcement against those who exercise First Amendment rights to engage in non-violent strikes or in peaceful, anti-war, environmental, and civil rights protests....

Class bias

On far too many occasions over the last half of the 19th Century and first half of the 20th Century, police violence was utilized to suppress the aspirations of the U.S. working class.

In some instances, like the 1897 Lattimore Massacre, xenophobia, as well as class, may have been a motivating factor. In that instance, Luzerne County PA Sheriff Deputies opened fire on striking, mostly immigrant coal miners who were marching in support of higher wages. Nineteen miners were killed and 38 injured.

The role of class bias was not confined to local law enforcement.

Near the end of the Hoover Administration, federal troops, under General Douglas MacArthur's command, used tanks, armed troops and bayonets in Washington DC to break-up an encampment of World War I veterans seeking to collect on bonus certificates.

Police violence, as a form of union-busting, began to recede in 1935 in the aftermath of union protections afforded by the National Labor Relations Act. But passage of the NRLA did not bring an end to class-motivated episodes of "extraordinary police violence" --- a point we covered throughout the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Anti-war and environment

The protests at UCLA could accurately be described as "anti-war".

Throughout the 1960's and '70's, those who engaged in peaceful protests against the Vietnam War were regularly subjected to police violence. Two of the more notable events entailed what would be dubbed a "police riot" when the Chicago PD violently attacked anti-war demonstrators outside the Democratic National Convention in 1968 and the Kent State massacre, where, on May 4, 1970, the National Guard opened fire, killing four students.

There are, of course, multiple examples of violent police assaults on environmental protesters, one, a 2016 attack on those protesting the Dakota Access pipeline, should serve as a reminder.

Race

The failure of the LAPD to intercede while the UCLA anti-war demonstrators were violently attacked calls to mind one of the darker chapters in U.S. history.

In May 1961, knowing full well that an angry KKK-led white mob planned to attack two busses carrying Freedom Riders during the civil rights movement, Bull Connor, Birmingham, Alabama's Public Safety Commissioner, used Mother's Day as a supposed reason why no police would be present when the busses arrived at Birmingham's Greyhound Station. The first bus was stopped near Anniston, AL when its tires were blown out. A bomb, thrown on the bus, burst into flames. The escaping Freedom Riders were brutally beaten, as were the Freedom Riders on the second bus when it arrived in Birmingham.

The LAPD decision, after failing to protect the pro-Palestine demonstrators, to storm the otherwise peaceful encampment also had a 1961 antecedent: the arrest of John Lewis and hundreds of other civil rights-era Freedom Riders in Jackson, MS. Lewis, et al., were "hastily convicted of breach of the peace", according to The New York Times, which added: "Many of the Freedom Riders spent six weeks in prison, sweltering in filthy, vermin-infested cells."

The instances of mid-twentieth century, race-based police violence against peaceful civil rights protesters are far too numerous to recount. And while the police violence unleashed upon peaceful marchers by AL state troopers on Bloody Sunday, March 17, 1965, has been credited for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the race-based disparity in the application of police violence has continued.

For example, in a 2018 Salon article, Brad Friedman noted the stark contrast between the application of force by "militarized police" in the "tear-gas filled streets" of Ferguson, MO with the kid gloves approach to a heavily armed right wing group during a stand-off occasioned by "scofflaw" Nevada rancher, Clive Bundy, who "refused", over the course of twenty-years, to pay grazing fees for use of public lands he did not own.

The LAPD failure to intercede when the UCLA protest encampment was attacked also calls to mind the occasion in August 2017, when, according to Pro Publica, state police and the Virginia National Guard "watched passively for hours as self-proclaimed Nazis", many sporting body armor and assault rifles, attacked counter-protesters in Charlottesville, VA. (Unlike UCLA, some of the anti-Nazi Charlottesville counter-protestors fought back, using pepper spray.)

Where, in 2020, National Park Police and the National Guard staged an unprovoked attack on peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrators in service of a Donald Trump photo-op near the White House, the members of armed right-wing mobs faced neither resistance nor legal consequences when they invaded and occupied State Capitols in Idaho and Michigan.

Eventually, more than 1,230 members of the right-wing insurrectionist mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 would be charged with federal crimes, but only a handful of the insurrectionists were arrested inside or outside the Capitol building on Jan. 6.

The behavior of police at UCLA was appalling. But, unfortunately, it was not a surprise.

* * *Ernest A. Canning is a retired attorney, author, and Vietnam Veteran (4th Infantry, Central Highlands 1968). He previously served as a Senior Advisor to Veterans For Bernie. Canning has been a member of the California state bar since 1977. In addition to a juris doctor, he has received both undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science. Follow him on twitter: @cann4ing

Could Ohio Republicans REALLY Keep Biden Off the Ballot?!: 'BradCast' 5/14/2024

Brad Friedman — Wed, 15 May 2024 01:34:17 +0000

We're covering 2024 election news in at least four different states on today's BradCast --- track conditions, not horse race --- and only one of those stories is particularly good news as GOP dirty tricks and voter suppression seem to be getting an early start this year. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among our main stories today...

Voters in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia headed to primary polls on Tuesday, with critical U.S. Senate and other races on the ballot. Noteworthy results and/or problem reports on tomorrow's program.

We first began reporting on this story early last month, when it seemed utterly ridiculous to even contemplate. It still does, frankly. Nonetheless, Ohio's wildly dysfunctional, partisan-gerrymandered Republican state legislature missed last week's deadline for a legislative fix to allow Joe Biden on the Buckeye State ballot this year. Ohio has a state law that requires Presidential candidates be officially certified by their party 90 days before the general election to be included on the state ballot. But the Dems' convention this year is just 74 days before the election. In past years --- for example, for Donald Trump in 2020 --- lawmakers simply changed the deadline to cure the problem as needed when conventions are held later in the Summer. This year, however, petulant state Republicans are demanding a pound of flesh from Democrats to make any such changes. And now, with last week's deadline past, its going to be even more difficult to do so. Tune in for the full --- and still ridiculous --- skinny.

Speaking of ridiculous, a rightwing activist in the state of Washington placed two Democratic candidates for Governor named Bob Ferguson on the ballot last Friday, just hours before the state's August 6th primary deadline. The state's longtime Democratic Attorney General, and front-runner to win the Governorship this year, is also named Bob Ferguson. And so the GOP's dirty tricks chaos for 2024 officially begins.

If they can't keep Democratic candidates off the ballot for no good reason, or add several candidates with the same name to the ballot to wreak confusion, Republicans still remember how to do it with good old fashioned voter suppression laws, like the newest one signed last week by Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp.

Meanwhile, Democrats are still in court fighting back Republican voter suppression from years ago. On Monday, the newly liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral argument to reverse a ridiculous ruling by the high court's previous rightwing majority that bans the use of secure absentee ballot drop-boxes. That, even as they've been used for years without incident or fraud in the Badger State (or anywhere else, for that matter.) The hearing was encouraging, as even the defendants --- the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission --- agree there is nothing in state law that actually bans their use. "The Commission fully agrees that drop boxes are permitted under Wisconsin statutes," said the Asst. AG representing them at the hearing. But it sure was amusing to hear Republicans argue in favor of stare decisis (respect for legal precedent and settled law) to keep the 2022 ruling in place from the rightwing partisan court just two years ago. Especially when one of the court's liberal justices at the hearing cited none other than U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito's majority opinion in Dobbs that overturned 50 years of Roe v. Wade legal precedent. Using Alito's precise language from the SCOTUS ruling, the WI Justice asked what Republican plaintiffs thought the court should do if they found the previous ruling to be "egregiously wrong".

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as wildfire season explodes in Canada; the world records a record-breaking rise in CO2 levels; and Michigan moves to sue Big Oil for ever-worsening climate damages...

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'Green News Report' - May 14, 2024

Desi Doyen — Tue, 14 May 2024 17:45:33 +0000

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Canada's fire season erupts, forcing evacuations, as wildfire smoke chokes U.S. Upper Midwest; Record-breaking increase in carbon dioxide levels in the world's atmosphere; PLUS: Michigan is newest state to sue Big Oil for mounting climate damages... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Biden's EV tariffs give U.S. automakers a fleeting chance; FERC shakes up power industry with landmark grid rule; El Niño to end by June, La Niña seen in second half of 2024; Cloud brightening study in CA halted by local officials; Greenhouse gas milestone; CO2 levels set record; Alabama uses deed covenants to ward off flooding claims from black residents; Why you CAN recycle pizza boxes, and other recycling myths debunked; World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target... PLUS: Where will you go if your town disappears into the ocean?... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

Global atmospheric CO2 levels mark record-breaking annual increase:

Record-breaking increase in CO2 levels in world’s atmosphere (Guardian):

The largest ever recorded leap in the amount of carbon dioxide laden in the world’s atmosphere has just occurred, according to researchers who monitor the relentless accumulation of the primary gas that is heating the planet.
Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory just captured ominous signals about the planet’s health (Washington Post):

Carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than ever.

Unprecedented weather disasters strike around the world:

Foreboding preview: Global spate of weather extremes precedes risky summer (Axios)
VIDEO: Children pulled from mud as hundreds die in severe flooding in Afghanistan (CNN)
Flash floods in northern Afghanistan sweep away livelihoods, leaving hundreds dead and missing (AP):

"I hope someone has found my daughters alive," he said, holding back tears. "Just in the blink of an eye, I lost everything: family, home, belongings, now nothing is left to me."
Death toll from floods in Indonesia's West Sumatra rises to 50 (Reuters)
As Asia sweats through a heatwave, experts say it's not sunburn you need to worry about (ABC Australia)
From flooding in Brazil and Houston to brutal heat in Asia, extreme weather seems nearly everywhere (AP)

Canada grapples with early, intense fire season, triggering air quality alerts:

Drought Fuels Wildfire Concerns As Canada Braces For Another Intense Summer (Yale Climate Connections):

As widespread drought raises expectations for a repeat of last year’s ferocious wildfire season, response teams across Canada are grappling with the rapidly changing face of fire in a warming climate.
VIDEO: Officials warn next 48 hours 'challenging' as thousands are evacuated amid Canadian wildfires (AP)
VIDEO: Canadian town bracing for its last stand against out-of-control 13,000-acre wildfire (CBS News)
Conditions improve for crews battling Fort Nelson, B.C., wildfire (CBC)
Dozens of blazes burning in Canada are sending smoke to the US. Several major fires have forced hundreds of evacuations (CNN/MSN)
Minnesota and Wisconsin Under Air Quality Warnings From Canada Wildfires (NY Times),/li>
This city currently has the worst air quality in America: Kansas City (Washington Post)

FTC says fracking CEO conspired with OPEC in price-fixing scheme:

The Mega-Donor Who Colluded With OPEC (The American Prospect):

Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield was banned from ExxonMobil’s board after a merger for conspiring to keep gas prices high.
American oil tycoon accused of trying to conspire with OPEC to inflate prices (CNN)
Fracking Bigwig Barred from Exxon Board Amid Price-Fixing Allegations (The Energy Mix):

OPEC members have historically controlled global oil prices by cooperating to collectively increase or decrease production. But it is illegal for U.S. producers to do this under federal legislation, the Sherman and Clayton Acts, preventing anti-competitive business practices.
An Oil Price-Fixing Conspiracy Caused 27% of All Inflation Increases in 2021 (BIG by Matt Stoller):

The FTC just found evidence that American oil companies colluded with the Saudi government to hike gas prices, costing the average family $3,000 last year. The question is, what can we do about it?

Trump solicits Big Oil campaign cash in blatant quid-pro-quo:

Trump, Big Oil eye post-Biden era (Axios)
What Trump Promised Oil CEOs As He Asked Them For $1 Billion To His Campaign (Washington Post):

Trump...stunned several of the executives in the room...You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted...Giving $1 billion would be a "deal," Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.
‘A little bold and gross’: Oil industry writes executive orders for Trump to sign (Politico)

Michigan A.G. to sue Big Oil for climate damages:

AG Nessel plans to sue oil and gas companies over Michigan's changing climate (Detroit News):

The oil and gas industry profited while knowingly selling products that cause climate change, Nessel’s office said in a document disclosing the coming lawsuits. The industry also deceived the public about climate change, Nessel alleged, leaving the state with the expenses of adapting to and recovering from the effects of warming.
Michigan plans to sue oil industry over climate change (E&E News)
VIDEO: AG Nessel looking for attorneys/law firms... [to focus] on legal action related to climate change impacts from the fossil fuel industry on Michigan's behalf (MI AG Dana Nessel/Twitter)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists' Daily Headlines page

Tariffs Give U.S. Automakers a Fleeting Chance (The American Prospect)

FERC Shakes Up Power Industry With Landmark Grid Rule (E&E News)

El Niño To End By June, La Niña Seen In Second Half Of 2024: NOAA (Reuters)

FERC: Will New Rules Break Transmission Logjam? (This Is Not Cool blog)

Where will you go if your town disappears into the ocean? (Washington Post)

Greenhouse gas milestone; CO2 levels set record (AP)

Cloud Brightening Study in California Is Halted by Local Officials (NY Times)

Biden Signs Bipartisan Bill Banning Imports Of Russian Uranium (Guardian)

Alabama Uses Deed Covenants to Ward Off Flooding Claims From Black Residents (Inside Climate News)

The kids think Biden's all right (on climate) (Axios)

Why you CAN recycle pizza boxes, and other recycling myths debunked (Washington Post)

World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target (Guardian)

How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry's Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)

The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)

'In A Word, Horrific': Trump's Extreme Anti-Environment Blueprint (Guardian)

Plug-in hybrids vs. electric cars: We did the math on which is better for you (Washington Post)

How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)

Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)

These are the places most at risk from record-breaking heat waves as the planet warms (CNN)

Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here's How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)

Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)

Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)

Exxon's Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)

VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)

Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)

An Optimist's Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)

Mysterious Recount in Tied U.S. House Primary Race Highlights Problems in CA Election Laws: 'BradCast' 5/13/2024

Brad Friedman — Tue, 14 May 2024 01:23:43 +0000

We've got a whole lotta Trump accountability news (and some for one high-ranking Democrat as well) since we last spoke to you on The BradCast last week. We'll get you up to speed on all of that today, but not before getting caught up on a crazy recount situation out here in the Golden State which I hope does not serve as a precursor to election challenges this Fall. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

The March 5th Super Tuesday primary elections here in California ended in an exact tie in the race to fill the Northern California U.S. House seat being vacated by long-serving, now-retiring Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo in the state's 16th Congressional District.

The exact tie --- with 30,249 votes for each candidate --- was not for first place, but for second place. Since 2010, California has used a Top-Two primary system where all candidates in a race, from any and all parties, run in the same primary. The top two vote getters --- regardless of party --- then move on to the general election in November.

In the CA-16 race, with 11 candidates running in March, former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo won with a fairly comfortable 5 point margin. In second place, however, Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian and state Assemblymember Evan Low were tied according to the certified results in early April.

Under CA law, that meant all three --- all Democrats in the very left-leaning Bay Area district --- would advance to the general, for the first time in CA's Top-Two primary history. That left all three men seemingly happy enough. Liccardo, in first place, would have his competition split between two competitors and Simitian and Low would each go to the general election. Neither dared asked for a recount, because a single change of even one vote would knock one of the second-place finishers out.

CA law doesn't allow for an automatic, state-funded recount in such closes races (as dozens of other states do). But it does allow any voter to request a recount in any race they like, so long as they are willing to pay for it. If the final recounted results cause a change to the certified results of the election, the requester is supposed to be refunded. At least, in theory.

A guy by the name of Jonathan Padilla sought a recount in the race. He filed on behalf of Low, because you have to file on behalf of one of the candidates, even though Low says he had nothing to do with the request. Padilla, it seems, had worked for first-place finisher Liccardo during his 2014 run for Mayor in San Jose, though not lately. And while Liccardo says he knows nothing about Padilla's effort here, and nobody seems to know who actually funded the recount, it was carried out over several weeks recently in both San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, which the 16th CD splits across.

Padilla was initially told that the recount would cost about $320,000 in Santa Clara alone. It would cost another $84,000 to recount in San Mateo, astronomically high numbers in a state which still allows County Registrars to charge pretty much anything they like. Those charges vary wildly from county to county (as we have detailed multiple times over the years) and all votes cast in a race must be re-tallied in order for results to be official recertified.

The costs to Padilla were then largely cut in half once he agreed to a recount by the same computer scanners that tallied the ballots in the initial count, rather than by a manual hand-count wherein results can be known to be accurate.

In any event, please tune in to find out who won the recount (by just 5 votes total!) and why it is that the CA Sec. of State now says Padilla is not due a refund after all, even though the results of the recount changed the results of the election to send just two candidates, instead of three, to this year's general.

We're joined today by DR. JOHN MAA, a San Francisco-based surgeon who was the first voter ever in California to seek and fund a statewide recount of a ballot initiative way back in 2010. He has become a bit of an expert in CA recounts since then, and advised both Low and Simitian during the recent 16th District recount.

Maa explains a number of vulnerabilities in CA's antiquated recount laws that were once again exposed by this latest recount, from seemingly arbitrary costs to requesters in each CA county (making recounts unaffordable to all but the weathiest of voters or candidates), to the concerns about retallying votes by the same computer scanners that tallied them in the first place, to the absurd ruling by the SoS that Padilla should not be refunded for the entire thing.

"Ultimately, I believe that the requester is a hero for Election Integrity," Maa tells me about Padilla. "And they bore the cost of what I believe that the Registrar's office should have done, because their certification of a tie was actually in error."

Tune in for much more.

THEN, in the second half of today's program, we get caught up on a whole bunch of legal woes for Donald Trump and several of his top supporters, as well as accountability for New Jersey's sitting Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, who is accused, along with his wife, of bribery and corruption to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. His criminal trial began jury selection in Manhattan today.

As to the Trumpers, 2016 Campaign Manager and top Trump White House Advisor Steve Bannon's appeal was rejected late last week in the two Contempt of Congress charges he was found guilty of, resulting in a four-month sentence for defying subpoenas from the Congressional Committee investigating the Trump-incited January 6th insurrection. Bannon has a few more appeal options left before he, like White House trade advisor Pete Navarro (already serving four months for the same crime) is sent off to a federal penal facility.

Trump's disgraced 2020 attorney and former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani --- who is also facing criminal charges in Arizona and Georgia, a bunch of civil lawsuits and has already been found liable for $148 million for repeatedly defaming two Atlanta poll workers in 2020 --- was fired from his daily radio show gig at WABC in New York. Apparently, the billionaire Republican owner of the station let him go because Rudy refused to stop lying about the results of the 2020 election on air. Sad!

And, also in New York on Monday, Trump's former personal lawyer and "fixer" Michael Cohen finally took the stand to offer pivotal testimony in the disgraced former President's first criminal trial on 34 felony counts related to the falsification of business records meant to hide his White House repayments to Cohen for hush-money given to porn star Stormy Daniels to help him win the 2016 election.

Oh, and a few callers ring in today as well, in another very busy BradCast to kick off the week!...

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Sunday 'Stormy Weather Continues' Toons

Brad Friedman — Sun, 12 May 2024 13:35:16 +0000

As The BRAD BLOG's former longtime toon sherpa PDiddie always reminded us: "With editorial cartooning increasingly an endangered species, please consider supporting them if you possibly can."

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Facing Down the Threat to American Democracy: 'BradCast' 5/9/2024

Brad Friedman — Fri, 10 May 2024 01:22:32 +0000

On today's BradCast: Why we're taking sides for democracy in this year's election. And why every real journalist should. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Among the many stories covered on today's program (and not necessarily in this order)...

Journalist John Harwood: "As a Veteran Reporter, I've Always Valued Neutrality. But Trump's Threat To Democracy Should be the Biggest Political Story of 2024"

USA Today: "Exclusive: Homeland Security ramping up 'with intensity' to respond to election threats"

The RNC, recently taken over by Donald Trump in full, is now little more than an election denialist/voter suppression operation (and, of course, a personal ATM for Trump). They recently fired their newly hired election law expert for not pretending enough that the 2020 election was stolen; New co-chair Lara Trump is taking to Fox "News" to spread disinformation about absentee ballots and ballot counting; House Speaker Mike Johnson is introducing a bill to make it illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections --- which is already illegal --- and claiming that, while there may be zero evidence, "we all know intuitively that a lot of illegals are voting".

Also, some news since we last spoke...

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tried and then failed spectacularly (thanks to help from House Democrats) to remove the Republican House Speaker again.

Stormy Daniels completed her testimony in Trump's 2016 election interference case in New York. The cross-examination, according to many reports, did not go well for Team Trump.

Joe Biden finally cuts off offensive weapons to Israel for Benjamin Netanyahu's promised threat of a full ground invasion in southern Gaza.

And finally...

Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as tornadoes leave trails of destruction in the U.S.; Florida bans "climate change" as hurricane season begins; House Republicans open a new pretend battle in their "War on Woke Appliances"; and U.S. culture finally begins to reflect climate reality...

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'Green News Report' - May 9, 2024

Desi Doyen — Thu, 09 May 2024 17:58:14 +0000

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Tornado outbreaks leave trail of destruction across multiple states; Republicans ban climate change in Florida, just in time for hurricane season; House Republicans' latest salvo in their 'War on Woke Appliances'; PLUS: A shift is underway in how U.S. culture portrays climate reality... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them for $1 billion for his campaign; From flooding in Brazil and Houston to brutal heat in Asia, extreme weather seems nearly everywhere; World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target; Microsoft made the biggest renewable energy agreement ever to fuel its AI ambitions; Corporate climate watchdog document deems carbon offsets largely ineffective... PLUS: The world’s largest carbon removal plant is here, and bigger ones are on the way... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

Stunning devastation from extreme floods in southern Brazil:

Southern Brazil is still reeling from massive flooding as it faces risk from new storms (AP):

"It will take at least a year to recover."...Gov. Leite has said that the enormous impact will require something akin to the Marshall Plan for Europe's post-WWII recovery. Already the state has asked the federal government to suspend debt payments and create a fund for the southern region.
Brazil's Historic Floods Create a 'Katrina Moment' for Lula's Presidency (Bloomberg/Yahoo News)

Tornado outbreaks leave trail of destruction across Plains, southern states:

Powerful storms kill 3 as tornadoes tear through central and southeastern US (AP)
Severe storms unleash tornadoes on Midwest, Ohio Valley after slamming Plains (Axios)
U.S. had 300 tornadoes in April, second-most on record (Washington Post):

Although April is often a busy time for tornadoes, the 300-plus twisters this year dwarfed the average of 182 and trails only the unbelievable total of 757 in April 2011 in modern records, according to a preliminary analysis by the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.
Michigan just had its first rare Tornado Emergency alert this week - what does that mean? (AP)
Nashville area weather updates: One person killed in Columbia tornado; more storms overnight (The Tennessean)
Governor's veto of some emergency funding for rural Oklahoma upsets some rural lawmakers (CNHI, 10/6/2022)
'Surprising' Surge in US Tornadoes Explained (Newsweek)
What we know about how climate change affects tornado outbreaks (Axios, 4/3/2023)

GOP House majority continues War on Woke Appliances:

House passes bill to make it harder to regulate home appliance energy efficiency (The Hill):

The House on Tuesday passed a bill aimed at making it more difficult for the Energy Department to enact energy efficiency rules for household appliances - the latest in Republicans' efforts related to such appliances.
House GOP focuses on home appliances (KLST-San Antonio)
VIDEO: House Republican Leadership News Conference, Rep. Stefanik and Rep. Lesko (C-SPAN)

Florida Republican lawmakers ban climate change, just in time for hurricane season:

Bill awaiting DeSantis’ OK would end years of renewable energy policies (Orlando Sentinal/MSN)
Climate change could virtually disappear in Florida — at least according to state law (AP):

Payne, who spent nearly four decades in the power industry before retiring, said he isn’t convinced that humanity’s energy consumption is destroying the planet. He also notes three-quarters of the state’s energy is provided by natural gas, leaving it vulnerable to market fluctuations.
Florida Says No to Federal Funding Aimed at Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Inside Climate News)

EIA: US power grid getting cleaner, but not fast enough:

Renewables make up the lion’s share of new electric generation, federal agency finds (The Hill):

Rising US demand for electricity is being met almost entirely by renewables, a new federal report has found...It also cast doubt on a key rationale for a proposed national buildout in gas power plants — and gas exports. The EIA numbers showed that rising gas exports are increasing the amount of money households pay for electricity — even as the agency found that the relative importance of gas to the power sector is falling.
U.S. electric power sector reported fewer delays for new solar capacity projects in 2023 (U.S. Energy Information Agency):

Solar power is the fastest-growing source of new electricity generation in the United States because of falling costs, tax credits, and other policies that provide incentives for adding renewable energy sources.
Solar to contribute over 60% of new U.S. electricity generation in 2024 (PV Magazine)

NYT: Big batteries are surging, stabilizing the US energy grid:

Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity (NY Times):

California has installed more giant batteries than anywhere in the world apart from China. They can soak up excess solar power during the day and store it for use when it gets dark...Over the past three years, battery storage capacity on the nation’s grids has grown tenfold, to 16,000 megawatts. This year, it is expected to nearly double again, with the biggest growth in Texas, California and Arizona.

Globally, clean energy is surging:

Wind and solar are ‘fastest-growing electricity sources in history’ (Carbon Brief)
More and faster: Electricity from clean sources reaches 30% of global total (AP):

For the first time, 30% of electricity produced worldwide was from clean energy sources as the number of solar and wind farms continued to grow fast...China added more renewable energy than any other country last year - 51% of the new solar power and 60% of the new wind power globally.

Culture shift underway in portrayal of climate reality:

Only 32 of the Top Movies in the Last Decade Say Climate Change Exists - Study (Indie Wire/MSN):

The good news is that more movies over the last five years mentioned climate change than those released in the first half of the 2010s, and awareness in major films is rising..."Like the legendary Bechdel Test before it, the Climate Reality Check is designed to serve as both a creative tool and an invitation to investigate the presence of climate representation on-screen."
How climate change is portrayed in popular culture (David Roberts, Volts podcast)
The Climate Reality Check: A Bechdel-Wallace Test for a World on Fire (Good Energy)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists' Daily Headlines page

What Trump Promised Oil CEOs As He Asked Them For $1 Billion To His Campaign (Washington Post)

From flooding in Brazil and Houston to brutal heat in Asia, extreme weather seems nearly everywhere (AP)

The world’s largest carbon removal plant is here, and bigger ones are on the way (The Verge)

Corporate Climate Watchdog Document Deems Carbon Offsets Largely Ineffective (Reuters)

World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target (Guardian)

USDA Rubber-Stamped Tyson’s “Climate Friendly” Beef; No One Has Seen the Data (Inside Climate News)

TVA Ignores Warnings In Moving Forward With New Natural Gas Plant (AP)

Microsoft made the biggest renewable energy agreement ever to fuel its AI ambitions (The Verge)

Scores Of Starving Brown Pelicans Found On Southern California Beaches (LA Times)

Mangroves, Expanding With Warming Climate, Are Re-Shaping The Texas Coast (Texas Tribune)

Oceans' record heat streak reaches 13 months (Axios)

A ban on single-use plastics takes effect in Hong Kong in a bid to reduce pollution (AP)

How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry's Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)

The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)

'In A Word, Horrific': Trump's Extreme Anti-Environment Blueprint (Guardian)

Plug-in hybrids vs. electric cars: We did the math on which is better for you (Washington Post)

How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)

Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)

These are the places most at risk from record-breaking heat waves as the planet warms (CNN)

Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here's How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)

Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)

Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)

Exxon's Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)

VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)

Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)

An Optimist's Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)

Trump Trial Ketchup: Stormy Takes the Stand: 'BradCast' 5/8/2024

Brad Friedman — Thu, 09 May 2024 00:23:48 +0000

Once again, on today's BradCast, we've got a mid-week "ketchup" for you, with everything you need to know about the disgraced former President's still-ongoing, first criminal trial. And it's been a very big week in that regard. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

But, first up today, interesting results out of Indiana on Tuesday, where the "zombie campaign" of Nikki Haley, who quit the race two months ago, still racked up nearly 22% of the vote in the Republican Presidential Primary against Donald Trump. (Joe Biden ran uncontested on the Democratic side.)

Next week's primaries will be in Nebraska, Maryland and West Virginia, where former coal baron and federally convicted criminal Don Blankenship --- a hard-right loon --- has decided to run in the Democratic primary to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by rightwing Democrat Joe Manchin. Blankenship lost as the Republican nominee against Manchin in 2018. This year, as a "Democrat", he'll be running next week in WV against staunch pro-union candidate Glenn Elliot and Marine Corp vet and grassroots organizer Zach Shrewsbury. The winner will likely be taking on current Governor and coal baron billionaire Jim Justice who ran for Governor as a Democrat in 2016 before flipping to Republican in 2017 just after he was elected.

Then, it's on to today's coverage of the past week's criminal Trump Trial in New York, where the former (and future?) President faces 34 felony charges related to hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels to help him win the 2016 Presidential election. Daniels was called by the Prosecution for testimony on Tuesday and, as you likely know by now, it was a bit of a blockbuster.

We're joined today by our old friends HEATHER DIGBY PARTON, award-winning columnist at Salon and longtime blogger at Hullaballoo, and former attorney and former Republican KEITH BARBER, who now blogs on legal and Constitutional matters as "KeithDB" at the progressive Daily Kos website.

Among the topics of today's conversation...

Daniels' disturbing testimony about her disturbing, apparently "quasi-non-consensual" (as Barber describes it) sexual encounter with Trump during a celebrity golf event in Lake Tahoe and why specific details of that counter either are or are not important to the Prosecution's case. (Barber: "If Trump invites you to a dinner date, don't expect dinner.")
Why Trump's attorneys sought a mistrial on Tuesday, but were rejected by the trial judge.
How Team Trump's various over-ruled objections are likely working against them.
How the Defense is doing in its attempt, so far, to cross-examine Daniels. (Barber: Trump's team was "too ham-fisted" and "outsmarted by the adult industry star.") The cross continues on Thursday.
Why last week's testimony by former, longtime Trump aid Hope Hicks was so important to the State's case, and why she broke down in tears as the cross-examination began. (Parton: "A devastating blow to his defense.")
Why Monday's testimony from the Trump Organization's former Controller and its current chief of Accounts Payable was so important to the Prosecution's case.
How all of this is being reported (or not) by mainstream media and rightwing media (Parton: "Fox is not covering it. Neither is Newsmax or OAN.") and heard by voters in both cases.
Whether the lack, so far, of testimony describing Trump himself as ordering the falsification of business records is going to be a problem for the Prosecution, and whether upcoming testimony by Michael Cohen can fix that.
Whether Trump will be held in criminal contempt by the judge for the eleventh time and if he'll actually be given jail time for his next violation of the court's gag-order. (Parton: "Trump doesn't want to go to jail. They don't have hair and makeup people in there." Barber: "He doesn't want to go to jail, no matter how much he'll tell his stupid MAGA followers that he does.")

All of that and much more on today's lively Trump Trial Ketchup show!...

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New Cybersecurity Breach in Coffee County, GA: 'BradCast' 5/7/2024

Brad Friedman — Wed, 08 May 2024 01:37:03 +0000

On today's BradCast: A new cybersecurity incident has emerged in Coffee County, Georgia. That's the now-notorious rural enclave in the southeastern part of the Presidential battleground state where Donald Trump allies and operatives, in January of 2021, unlawfully breached, copied and distributed the state's proprietary touchscreen voting system software after the 2020 Presidential election. Five participants in that breach were charged with felonies as part of the broad racketeering conspiracy case against Trump filed in Fulton County, GA. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Before we get there today, however, some quick news on Trump's New York criminal trial, where he stands accused of 34 felonies related to hush-money payments made just before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels. She took the stand today. We cover a few quick details, but will cover that and other related news in more depth on tomorrow's mid-week Trump Trial "Ketchup" program.

Also today, we're happy to announce another very rarely-bestowed BRAD BLOG Intellectually Honest Conservative Award. This one for Georgia's Republican former Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan. The prestigious honor comes in response to his courageous op-ed in the Atlanta Journal Constitution this week, in which he endorsed Joe Biden and encouraged fellow Never Trump Republicans to do the same, noting, "Unlike Trump, I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life. This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass."

Then, it's back to Georgia, where the Coffee County Board of Commissioners released a notice [PDF] late last month that they'd been notified by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), 11 days earlier, about "unusual cyberactivity" on the County's local IT system. The terse statement from the County confirmed indications of "cyber-activity by an unknown malicious actor(s)". It claimed that "Steps have been taken to further secure the network and protect Coffee County's IT infrastructure", while noting that it had "informed Federal Authorities of the incident". (Yes, that would seemingly be the same incident that the very same press release says Federal Authorities, DHS and CISA, notified THEM about.)

We're joined today by longtime Election Integrity and Transparency champion MARILYN MARKS of the Coalition for Good Governance (CGG). Marks was the one who first learned about Team Trump's unlawful breach of GA's statewide voting system hardware and software in Coffee County that first took place on January 7, 2021 (the day after Trump's insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.) Her revelations resulted in the charges filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis against Trump attorney Sidney Powell (who pleaded guilty) and others involved in the Coffee County break in.

As Director of CGG, Marks is also the plaintiff in civil lawsuit in federal court, filed in 2017, seeking to ban GA Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger's mandated use of the state's easily-hacked, unverifiable touchscreen voting systems in favor of verifiable hand-marked paper ballots. The trial in that long-running case, known as Curling v. Raffensperger, was finally held in January of this year. As Marks explains today, plaintiffs are still waiting on a verdict from U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg who oversaw the trial, which included demonstrations from plaintiffs' experts revealing that Raffensperger's systems can be hacked by any voter at the polling place with nothing more than a ballpoint pen.

Today, Marks charges that Coffee County appears to have "hid and concealed" information about the new cybersecurity incident from the Sec. of State's office "for some number of days." Though little is still known publicly about the new hack, she is troubled by the news. "This cannot just be coincidence that there have been two such cyberattacks this year on counties, one in Fulton and one in Coffee. That's it. The two counties that have a lot of information challenging Trump and his allies related to [the earlier breach in Coffee] and the theft of the [voting] software to begin with."

We also get an update from Marks on the status of the Curling case, where it is getting very late in the election year for the judge to issue a ruling that would require Georgia to make hand-marked paper ballots available to voters at the polls this November. Marks, however, remains ever hopeful, noting that the move to hand-marked ballots would require no new equipment above and beyond what is already available at each GA precinct.

Marks also discusses a new Georgia law (signed by Gov. Brian Kemp this evening) that will eventually ban the use of tabulation via QRCodes on computer-marked ballots, requiring computer scanners to tabulate from the ballots' human-readable text that is supposedly verified by voters after it is printed and before its cast. Unfortunately, as she explains, that bill, even if implemented in 2026 as mandated by the legislation, will not make the state's touchscreen Ballot Marking Devices any less vulnerable to manipulation or any more verifiable by the public after an election.

Marks, whose organization found no evidence that Biden's 2020 victory in the Peach State was decided incorrectly, is also offering testimony this week to the GA State Board of Elections, advocating that recounts in the state must be carried out by hand, rather than by the same computerized scanners that tallied ballots in the first place.

"The state law is quite clear, a recount is to be done by hand, for obvious reasons such as the machine [used to tally ballots] is coded wrong," she explains. Otherwise, she adds, you're going to get the same incorrect results "if you just run the ballot back through the machine that is miscoded."

The reason that Trump supporters are still arguing over the 2020 tally in the state, she believes, is thanks to the lack of a public hand-count after that very close election. Raffensperger insisted on a machine tally instead. "All of that could have been solved if they had done a manual recount, as the law required. Which would have allowed Trump to appoint a counter at every table, handle every single ballot. And they would have had a hard time arguing then about counterfeit ballots, wrong counts, no transparency," Marks tells me. "A lot of the problems that we've lived with now over three years would have been solved if they had just followed the law and done a manual recount."

Finally today, we close with our latest Green News Report, with Desi Doyen's coverage of relentless rain and deadly flooding in both Brazil and Houston; the hottest April ever recorded on Planet Earth; and President Biden's unveiling of billions of dollars to spur clean energy production in rural areas and the removal and replacement of toxic lead water pipes across the nation...

CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!...

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'Green News Report' - May 7, 2024

Desi Doyen — Tue, 07 May 2024 17:27:28 +0000

Follow @GreenNewsReport...

(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Relentless rains trigger widespread floods in Houston and southern Brazil; April 2024 was the hottest April on record, on land and sea; Man-made global warming is supercharging heavy rains across the U.S.; PLUS: President Biden unveils billions in new funding for rural clean energy, and to remove and replace toxic lead water pipes... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

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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): Summer heat hits Asia early, killing dozens as one expert calls it the "most extreme event" in climate history; Kenya and Tanzania face 'humanitarian crisis' amid disastrous floods; EPA finally takes on abandoned coal ash ponds, but it might be too late; Climate change-driven insurance crisis threatens new US states; The GOP mega-donor who collued with OPEC; Big winner in Biden’s EV charging revolution: Gas stations... PLUS: Oil companies contaminated a family farm. Regulators let them walk away... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

April 2024 was the hottest April ever recorded:

Globe records its hottest April on record, with subtle signs of a shift (Axios):

Due mainly to a combination of an El Niño event and human-caused climate change, plus an unknown X-factor, this global heat streak has raised fears of breaching the Paris targets earlier than expected. It has also sparked uncomfortable questions about the scientific understanding of warming rates.
A streak of record global heat nears one-year mark (Washington Post):

April marked an 11th consecutive month of record global heat, the latest sign that humans are in uncharted climate territory. But there is reason to predict planetary temperatures could moderate soon, though they would remain far above old normals because of human-caused global warming.

Extreme storms, floods hit southern Brazil:

Historic floods kill 83, leaving Brazil and its president angry, shaken (Washington Post):

"We have to stop just running after disaster,” Lula said. “We have to start preparing for what can happen from disasters." In a comment exclusively provided to The Washington Post, Lula said he blamed the devastation in Rio Grande do Sul on the failures of the global community to respond to climate change. He said there was a "historic debt." Poorer countries that have historically emitted few greenhouse gases, he said, are suffering due to the pollution of wealthier nations.
Death toll from floods in Brazil reaches 83, with climate change viewed as a major driver (Salon/MSN)
VIDEO: Dam Collapses, Infrastructure Fails in Brazil Floods (This Is Not Cool blog)

Relentless storms and floods batter Houston, Texas:

What the Houston area's floods can teach the rest of the world (Houston Chronicle)
VIDEO: Heavy rains ease around Houston but flooding remains after hundreds of rescues and evacuations (AP)
Hidalgo ends mandatory evacuation, says flooding remains for some (Houston Chronicle):

It’s unlikely the flooding will receive the disaster designation it needs for the county to receive federal aid for disaster recovery, Hidalgo said, but Gov. Greg Abbott is going to push for relief. Abbott will appear at a news conference in Conroe Monday afternoon. Hidalgo will also fly to Washington, D.C. tomorrow to ask federal officials to speed up funding for buyouts for those who need to move out of their homes in wake of the flooding.
VIDEO: Texas Drowning. More Rain on the Way (This Is Not Cool blog)

New analysis shows Extreme Precipitation Days increasing in U.S.:

Extreme Precipitation in a Warming Climate (Climate Central):

As the climate has warmed from 1958 to 2021, the most extreme precipitation days have intensified in every major U.S. region, led by the Northeast (+60%) and Midwest (+45%).

Biden Dept. of Energy invests in rural clean energy projects:

Clean energy in rural America gets another big boost of federal funding (Canary Media):

All told, the funding to date covers 20 states and 30 tribal nations...Rural communities, with their small populations and isolation from larger electrical systems, grapple with unique energy challenges. These include high electric bills, high fuel costs, and unreliable energy supplies — or lack of access to electricity altogether. At the same time, rural communities have untapped potential for generating clean energy.