'BradCast' 11/11/2025 (It's the Elections, Stupid; Dem shutdown fallout; Trump pardons 2020 accomplices)

Donald Trump just issued a blank check to break the law in the name of Donald Trump. Yep. That sounds like the Donald Trump I know. Good God. Well, I don't know why I came here tonight. That's why? I got the feeling that something right. No, it ain't. I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair. And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs. Lucas to the From Pacifica Radio in Los Angeles, this is the broadcast. As heard on KPFK, 90.7 FM in LA, and on dozens of other fine affiliate stations on both the public airwaves and the internets around the country and the world, blanketing planet Earth. I'm Brad Friedman, your friendly investigative blogger, journalist, troublemaker, muckraker, and... All around Swell Fellow, says me from bradblog.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. And frankly, I think we can all. Well, sort of use a bit of good news today. Does he doyen? What do you think? Oh, definitely. Well, at least before all of the other news we have for you today. You know, I'm going to take a stand here. I'm a big fan of good news. I know you are. I'm going out on a limb with that. But I can only go so far today. My apologies in advance. And yeah, despite the glitch. By seven Democrats, one independent and the Senate minority leader who allowed them to proceed to undercut their own party's victories, I think we've, well, we've still got some election fever around here, which it may or may not be good news, depending on how things go. But we always have election news around. Always have election fever around here. Because in the end, elections... As maybe you've noticed by now, are the only thing that ultimately matter on the long road toward hopefully positive change. To that end, today, the good guys have had another win in the gerrymandering wars, surprisingly enough, even if this battle sort of quietly... sidled in the side door of the gerrymandering wars, a judge in Utah on Monday rejected a Republican-passed U.S. House redistricting plan that would have created two more competitive districts in the state where all four congressional seats are currently filled by Republicans. So you would think that...

Two more competitive districts among four red ones might be good enough, but not according to the judge who got something better. The ruling comes as another win for Democrats who thought that the Republican drawn map did not go far enough. The Utah case centers around a voter-approved measure in Utah against partisan gerrymandering in the state that was passed back in 2018. One that Democrats have been using to challenge the state's congressional map and a measure that Republicans are currently collecting signatures to try and undo at the ballot box. Of course they are. But for the moment, the ballot measure still stands and the state court has determined that neither the Republicans... previous map, nor the one that they submitted to try and win approval from the court for meeting the requirement of the voter approved measure that Barr's partisan gerrymanders was good enough in denying the new map from the Republicans that would have included what GOP lawmakers characterized as those two competitive districts. The judge put in place instead one of two options that were offered to her by the plaintiffs in the case. The one that she chose creates a solidly Democratic district that covers Salt Lake City, giving the party another win in its redistricting wars after Trump and the Republicans kicked off this mess by gerrymandering Texas's already gerrymandered map. to, in theory, flip as many as five Democratic seats down there in Texas, mostly minority seats, over to Republicans in next year's 2026 midterms. The news out of Utah comes just days after Democrats won a major victory with the passage of Prop 50. by voters out here in California that would allow lawmakers to temporarily set aside our state's independent redistricting commission in order to flip as many as five seats from red to blue next year in the golden state in response to the Republicans legislature conducting a gerrymander in the Lone Star State. The measure here in California while still being tallied up reportedly. passed, according to current numbers, with some 80% of the results in, by a whopping nearly 30 points statewide. And I believe I references quickly on yesterday's show. But just to underscore it, as detailed by Newsweek, voters in eight California counties that were carried by Donald Trump last year in the 2024 presidential election actually backed Proposition 50. Election results, as noted, are still being tallied. But these numbers, tallying the bulk of results as of the day after election day, find that voters in eight California counties that backed Trump just one year ago backed Proposition 50 last week, including in Fresno, the Fresno County, where Trump beat Harris by...

More than four percentage points. Merced, Inyo, San Bernardino, Lake County, Riverside County, San Joaquin, and Imperial, all of which went to Trump over Kamala Harris last year, anywhere from about four and a half points to just under one point. On Prop 50, the largest yes margin among those counties was in Imperial County. which came in with yes over no by 20.2%. Wow. Yeah, no kidding. Wow. San Bernardino and Riverside counties also recorded yes victories by about 16.5% and almost 14% respectively. Again, those counties went to Donald Trump last year. This year, they voted yes on Prop 50 to flip five red seats in the state over to blue. Prop 50 was expected to win, of course, before Election Day, but the huge margins here. Even in eight counties that went to Donald Trump last year, well, those huge margins were not necessarily expected. California Secretary of State is scheduled to certify the final results in Prop 50 by December 12 after. which the new congressional district maps will take effect for the 2026, 28, and 2030 U.S. House elections here in California. The Independent Redistricting Commission for the state will supposedly resume their duties after 2030. But back to Utah for a second, in her ruling issued minutes before midnight deadline on Monday night. State judge Diana Gibson said the Republicans submitted map, quote, fails to abide by and conform with the requirements of the 2018 voter approved ballot measure in Utah that created nonpartisan redistricting standards for use by the state legislature. In October this year, Republican state legislators passed the map that the judge ultimately denied on Monday, which created what they described as two competitive districts, which still ended up favoring Republicans. Nonetheless, she rejected that map, and she enacted the one for the plaintiffs that's likely to allow a Democrat to win, finally, one of the states for... U.S. House seats next year. Several Utah Democrats are now getting closer to entering that race, now that they know there's a big blue spot right in the middle of deep red. Utah. Former Congressman Ben McAdams is expected to announce his candidacy soon. For example, a Democrat has not represented Utah in Congress since 2021 when McAdams left office. So the gerrymandering wars are not over yet, not by a long shot, but to date, they don't seem to be going as well for Republicans as they might have expected. Who knew when you followed Donald Trump's...

suggestion, his order doesn't turn out to work out quite as well as expected. That's true. I won't walk you through all of the states that have already made changes or are expected to today. But at the moment, at least, it is largely a wash between the two parties as to how many seats they would be picking up once all is said and done, at least with the states so far that have either made such changes or in the process of doing so. And, of course, all of this could be ultimately blown out of the water entirely if the corrupted activist Republican U.S. Supreme Court got Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, as expected by many, allowing states to remove districts entirely that were created under the Voting Rights Act to ensure that minority voters are allowed to elect representatives of their choosing. So that would be very bad news if the court takes that step. As early as January, well, that would likely set off another round of redistricting in red states that could net Republicans about a dozen or more seats in next year's midterms in the U.S. House that they currently control by a mere three states. So not to bunk your high today. Des, sorry, regarding the otherwise good news out of Utah, but I guess that's what we do around here sometimes. But wait, get back on that roller coaster. Donald Trump's approval ratings have now fallen to new lows, according to Newsweek, sinking into double-digit negative territory for the first time this term, according to real clear polling's national average, which, by the way. is a very right-leaning polling average. They include a lot of bad polls, essentially, in there and leave out a lot of good ones. So, according to real clear polling's national average, Trump's net approval dropped from negative 9.1 to negative... 11.2. So he's 11.2 underwater, points underwater, according to real clear polling's average. But that dropped from 9.1 to 11.2, negative 11.2 happened overnight on Friday, just days after last week's elections, marking what Newsweek describes as a steep decline in public support. The sharp decline, they say, underscores growing public unease with his administration. With key economic indicators faltering and a government shutdown straining public confidence, Trump's slump. Could further endanger Republican prospects in 2026. The magazine reports, particularly as Democrats seek to capitalize on voter fatigue and independent discontent. Trump's approval rating also hit a new low in Newsweek's own poll tracker last week, reaching negative 13 points with 55% disapproving.

and just 42% approving there. As well, surveys by non-right-wing outlets show an even deeper plunge, including those by Quinnipiac University, which shows him 14 points underwater, UGov and The Economist, which shows him 19 points underwater. Ipsos Reuter shows him 17 points underwater. Navigator research finds him 16 points underwater with his negatives far outpassing his approval rating. Voters also appear especially unhappy with his handling of the shutdown itself. A new UGov economist poll from early November found that 58% disapprove of his approach to the shutdown that is up five points since early. October. So the longer the shutdown went on, the more and more folks were disapproving of Donald Trump. Now, I mention all of that not to pile on with simply more bad numbers for Donald Trump. I know it drives some of our listeners crazy when I do that, but I do it by way of underscoring in part how insane it was. For those seven Democrats and one independent who caucuses with them in the U.S. Senate, to cave on the Democrats' demands that Republicans restore trillions of dollars in health care cuts to the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, to Medicaid, and to Medicare, most immediately beginning with the ACA premiums that will be spiking for more than 20 million Americans as of January 1. in many cases, quadrupling from what they are this year. So in addition to those seven Democrats and one Independent who caucuses with them, namely Tim Kaine of Virginia, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Catherine Cortez Mastow of Nevada, and also Jackie Rosen of Nevada, and Angus King of Maine. None of whom are coming up for re-election next year, go figure. I also added, if you listen to the yesterday's show, Democratic Senator, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. He voted against this measure. He is coming up for re-election next year. He voted against going along with the Republicans. But I added him to the list of those who should be targeted for electoral removal. via Democratic primary as soon as that becomes possible, because in Chuck Schumer's case, I would also add that he should be removed as Senate minority leader immediately for either allowing those eight senators to undercut the entirety of the rest of the Democratic caucus in both the Senate and the House, or if he didn't allow them simply being...

unable to prevent them from doing so. Either way, this is not the type of leader. I'm sure he's a very nice guy, Chuck Schumer, but he is not a wartime Senate minority leader, if you ask me. That makes sense. I've heard a lot of... of excuse-making for and by those seven senators, seven Democrats, one independent, over the past 24 to 48 hours since their cave. I've heard a lot of excuse-making for them. Well, they're moderates. They're centrist. Yes, it's true. Many people were suffering. Due to the shutdown, that is true, including hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers who were working without pay and millions of families who were on the brink of losing supplemental nutrition assistance as the Trump administration was defying court orders that they must release the money to feed them. And of course, millions of air travelers are frustrated by delays and cancellations at airports around the country that the administration was purposely causing in many cases, by the way. All of those things are true and they're terrible and they were ongoing. But you know what? So will be the loss of health care. to millions of Americans beginning as of January 1 who will no longer be able to afford it, even as Trump and his party were taking a majority of the blame for the shutdown by the American people who were in turn turning out in droves to vote against Republicans and Donald Trump in last week's election. Now, I've seen a lot of media outlets characterizing those eight senators who voted with Republicans to reopen the government, receiving largely nothing, by the way, in exchange for their vote. I've seen a lot of people characterizing them, well, they're moderates or they're centrist Democrats, as if that is some sort of excuse, as if it's some sort of reason or explanation for what they did here. And frankly, As if all of those Democrats who did not fold are some sort of wild-eyed, progressive, radical far-leftist or something. But are you familiar with a group that calls itself third way? Remember third way? There are supposedly moderate, centrist, center-left, supposedly think tank that many progressives despise as a bunch of, you know, sort of. Republicans in disguise, soft Republicans, if you will. Well, on their website, they describe themselves as, quote, a national think tank and advocacy organization that champions moderate policy and political ideas. Our work on the center left acts as a critical bulwark against political extremism. All right, whatever. Well, even Third Way, even Third Way turns out to be furious.

about what those eight senators did late on Sunday, releasing the following statement from third-way president Jonathan Cowan, who says, quote, we oppose the agreement in the Senate to end the government shutdown. For the last 40 days and for the first time in the Trump presidency, Democrats have driven the debate and put Republicans on their heels. All factions of the party were unified around defending the Affordable Care Act. Republicans, led by Trump, seem hell-bent on taking away the tax credits that allow millions of Americans to have health care without going broke. This was a battle worth fighting, and it was worth fighting longer. Again, says John Cowan, the president of Third Way. He said, quote, ultimately Democrats may not have succeeded in extending the ACA subsidies, but now we will never know. To paraphrase Bill Clinton, he says, one of America's most pugnacious Democratic centrists. See what I mean about Third Way? I don't know how you could be a pugnacious centrist, but okay, whatever. To paraphrase Bill Clinton, we should have been ready to fight, quote, until the last dog dies. We should not have surrendered until we received at least something tangible on lowering health care costs. Cowen of Third Way concludes, but regardless of today's vote, There is one clear political loser from this fight. Donald Trump, he inflicted 40 days of pain on Americans just to prolong the health care crisis that he created. Heading into 2026, every American will know one thing. It was Donald Trump and congressional Republicans who robbed them of their health care and jacked up prices. Again, that comes from third way. So please do not waste your breath by excusing Kane and Dick Durbin and John Fetterman and Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen and Cortez Mastro and Rosen and King because, well, they're, you know, they're just moderate. They're centrist Democrats. You have to expect this. No, you don't. They may or may not be moderate centrist, but there are, you know, there are other such moderates and centrists. In the Democratic caucus in both the House and the Senate, who did not go along with giving away what is some of the only leverage that Democrats have in their battles against all three branches of government that are now controlled by corrupt Republicans. Another point I want to make very clear here, as I've been trying to be about all of this since yesterday, this was done by seven Democrats and one independent who caucuses with them in the U.S. Senate, either with or without the blessing of Chuck Schumer, who either way does not get off the hook for it as far as I'm concerned, but everyone else in the caucus held firm.

For a record, 40 days, which would have been unthinkable for Democrats in years past. And frankly, even in months past, as you recall how Chuck Schumer himself led a Democratic group that voted with Republicans to keep the government open earlier last spring in March, I think it was. And he caught quite a lot of deserved hell for it. So Democrats do seem to have learned a lot from that, and they have come quite away by the time of this shutdown, it seems to me, at least most of them, with the exception being those seven Democrats and one independent who caucuses with them in the U.S. Senate, who similarly may now be learning their own lesson about all of this this week. We'll see. But I want to make sure that we take the right lesson from all of this as well. I received a note from listener Pam after yesterday's show in which we first began talking about all of this after the late night cave by those eight in the U.S. Senate late on Sunday night. Pam writes, subject line, My Spineless Party members. Quote, Dear Brad, great show as always. Thank you, Pam. My spineless party members are a waste of space and a disgrace to their fellow Americans. They should all resign with immediate effect. She adds an anger emoji before she adds, please keep up the great work, my best to you and Desi. Pam. Well, I wrote back to say, thank you. Pam, which party members are you referring to specifically? Her reply? The Democrats. And see? There's your problem. The Democrats did not do this. Seven Democrats, and one independent that caucuses with them, perhaps with the blessing of Chuck Schumer, did this. Not the Democrats. Hell, even the third way group was against caving on this shutdown. So my reply in turn to our friend Pam was, quote, well, to be fair, the Democrats did a remarkable job this time around other than the 7 plus 1 indie that caved and the Senate leader who allowed it. There is a lot of, there is a lot to fight against. I wrote to Pam, let's pick and choose our battles wisely. And her reply, quote, I am in total agreement. In reference to choosing our battles, however, my first thought remains the same. They are spineless and she adds a laughing emoji. Fair enough. But hopefully she and all of us get the message. When you say the Democrats folded, you're not being accurate or precise or fair. And frankly, you're undermining those. A lot of folks who are your allies here. Specifically, the huge majority of Democrats, hundreds of them in both chambers of Congress, who did not fold for 40 days. 40 days and 40 nights, as they say.

who held strong and unified for a record long government shutdown 40 days before it would eventually become clear that the American people supported them, supported them, not Republicans in this shutdown. And that is something that was absolutely not clear when all of this began. It was not clear that Democrats were not going to be blamed for all of this. And yet they hung in their... long enough, at least through the elections last week, to learn very clearly, no, the American people have the Democrats back in all of this, and they are blaming Republicans. So, credit where it's due and support in advance for, frankly, when this needs to happen again, perhaps in just over two months' time. As the current legislation, no, I'm not going to call it a deal, Because a deal includes, you know, something that both sides get. And frankly, Democrats get nothing here. But the current legislation that's working its way through the GOP-controlled Senate and then into the House and then making its way to Donald Trump's desk is for a continuing resolution to keep the government open largely at the current spending levels only through the end of January. That is it. At which time, in theory, we may have to go through all of this again. Oh, boy. But this time, some 24 million Americans will already know how their health insurance premiums have spiked, have doubled or tripled or quadrupled. And they are not likely to be any less furious about it all by the end of January than they are right now. So keep that in mind. And one more point here before we get to a break. More news and eventually Desi Doyen's latest green news report. Which, if you listen closely, also contains some good news, I think. We try. You have to listen carefully. Yes, you do. With all of that said, and as the government is still shut down for the moment, while the legislation to reopen it moves from the Senate to the House to the president, as we move forward, despite what those seven Democrats and one independent foolishly did this week, as Morris. Our caller at the end of yesterday's show also reminded this all means supposedly that finally now a vote on the release of the Epstein files in the U.S. House is, well, at least that much closer to becoming reality. Supposedly, we'll find out. We'll see how that turns out. But it ought to help buoy your spirits in the weeks ahead. And the U.S. Congress, yes, as they barrel toward another likely shutdown. Or maybe Republicans will finally realize that Democrats were actually doing them a favor in trying to force them to restore these massive health care cuts, spiking insurance costs for millions of Americans, most of whom, by the way, live in Republican jurisdictions. So we'll see where all of that goes, but... You know, it sucks what happened, but lessons learned, and we move forward, and maybe we are smarter the next time, as long as we stay focused on blaming those who really deserve the blame, which is the entire Republican Party at this point, plus seven Democrats, one independent who caucuses with them, and, well, Chuck Schumer.

All right, more news straight ahead. Yes, more voting and elections news, as I hope to help you keep your eyes on that prize on today's broadcast. I'm Brad Friedman. Don't touch that dial. The Bradcast and the Green News Report are 100% independent, 100% listener supported. But we can't do it alone. We need you. Please help us bring real facts to listeners at independent stations around the nation. Please drop by bradblog.com slash donate. That's bradblog.com slash donate. And thanks. Welcome back. It's the Bradcast, Brad Friedman from Bradblog.com. Our little bit of news that we didn't have time to get to. On yesterday's broadcast, given the cave by those seven Democrats and one independent who caucus with them in the U.S. Senate on Sunday night. On Monday, Donald Trump, well, it was announced. It actually happened, I think, late last week, but it was announced on Monday that Donald Trump pardoned a long list of his political allies for their support or involvement. in plans to steal the 2020 presidential election. Oh, it's nice being king. That according to the Department of Justice's pardon attorney, Republican activist. And lawyer for a number of the previously pardoned January 6th insurrectionist, guy by the name of Ed Martin, who he posted a letter that was signed by Donald Trump on social media, declaring pardons for some 77 individuals involved in Trump's failed attempt to steal the election that year in 2020. The individuals listed. In a proclamation, which Martin posted on Twitter late Sunday, include high-profile figures like former Trump lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, and John Eastman, and Boris Eftstein, and Jeffrey Clark, and Christina Bob, and Sidney Jerome Powell, who pled guilty to charges related to Trump's attempt to steal the election in Georgia. Jenna Ellis, who did likewise. Ken Chesbro, who also pleaded guilty to those state charges. Scott Hall, the businessman who we first aired on this program, describing his part in that Georgia scheme in Coffey County to unlawfully breach.

and copy the statewide voting systems there. I believe he also pled guilty down in Georgia. Trump allies and fake elector conspirators like Arizona GOP chair Kelly Ward and her husband Michael Ward and the president's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, among dozens of others, were all pardoned by Donald Trump. Quote, This proclamation ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 presidential election and continues the process of national reconciliation reads the document that includes a signature by Donald Trump or by his auto pen. I guess we don't know. It also includes, quote, A full, complete, and unconditional pardon for those named, including many of the president's co-defendants who were charged in Georgia in the state indictments there. And, of course, for all of the fake electors and a number of swing states who signed documents falsely swearing to be the real electors in those states when, in fact, in those states, Joe Biden had actually won that year. As CNN reports, the pardons marked the latest step. that Trump has taken to absolve or protect his allies who tried to overturn the 2020 election. He tried to steal it, CNN. Are you still trying to be nice to him here? I guess you are. Anyway, those efforts, they note, culminated in the violent riot incited by Trump himself, according to a bipartisan vote of the U.S. Senate, CNN. You can say that violent riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The latest set of pardons, of course, follows on one of Trump's first official acts upon taking office in his second term when he pardoned more than a thousand. People who were charged or convicted in the January 6 attack, many of whom have since been arrested and charged for new crimes, including stuff like sexual assault and much more. But please note, Donald Trump's pardons only apply to federal charges. They do not apply to state or local charges. So those folks, for example, involved in Trump's attempt to steal the state of Georgia, while they will still have to face the charges against them. If that indictment ever gets back on track after Fulton County DA Fani Willis was removed from the case by Republicans in the state, none of the people on the list of Trump's 77 pardonees. None of them are currently charged with any federal crimes.

Though some were named as unindicted co-conspirators in Special Counsel Jack Smith's indictments against Trump for having attempted to steal the election at the federal level, that indictment was sadly withdrawn after Trump's 2024 election victory. State-level criminal charges are, in fact, still pending against folks like Giuliani and Meadows and many of the 2020 fake electors and others on the pardon list. 2020-related state prosecutions are ongoing in Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada, as well as maybe Georgia, we'll see. Also last week, the pretend law and order president who has no interest in either law. nor order granted clemency to a retired New York City police officer who was convicted in 2003 for stalking a New Jersey family on behalf of the Chinese government. Well, clearly that person needs a pardoned. He also pardoned former Major League baseball star Daryl Strawberry for a 1995 tax evasion charge because, well, we'd hate for tax evasion to suddenly become illegal. Former tenant. Well, let's be clear. Tax evasion, if you're a friend of Donald Trump, is no longer illegal for everybody else, especially if you're an enemy. Yeah. Good advice. Good advice. Former Tennessee House Speaker Glenn Cassada. And his former chief of staff, Cade Cothran, they were pardoned, even though they had only been convicted this May on fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy charges, all of which, again, are just fine, as long as you're Republican now. It was a scheme tied to constituent mailer services. Cassada had been sentenced in just September to three years in prison. But lucky him received a pardon this week. And without making a public announcement, the New York Times reports that Trump pardoned Robert Harshberger Jr. That's the husband of Congresswoman Diana Harshberger of Tennessee. He pleaded guilty to health care fraud in 2013. So good news. That's now apparently lawful as well as long as your Republican connected to Donald Trump. He's pardoned just about everyone there is to pardon at this point if they are Republicans like, you know, You know, George Santos, who defrauded his own supporters of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars, or if they're otherwise friendly to him or to his family, particularly if they've given them a lot of money. Like the Chinese crypto bro who committed massive fraud and money laundering for terrorists, but he recently invested billions in the Trump... Family crypto operation, which puts money straight into their pockets. So for that, yes, you win a pardon, and you win a pardon, and you win a pardon. But those, while appalling, are not particularly surprising or unusual at this point, as his corrupt pardons have sadly become all too normalized. But the pardons for those not actually charged with any federal crimes, well, that's kind of weird.

But it is key to his attempted theft of the 2020 election, which makes all of this a different matter, at least according to the legal journalist Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein over at Politico who report that Donald Trump's adversaries say his sweeping pardon for dozens of alleged co-conspirators in the plot to subvert the 2020 election sent an unmistakable signal. If you do it again, I will protect you. The extraordinarily broad pardon signed on Friday but revealed on Sunday night has little substantive effect for its recipients, many of whom are still facing state charges. But the massive pardon, the first in history to cover people accused of criminally conspiring with the president who issued the pardon. comes as Trump continues to stoke false claims about rampant cheating by Democrats and so's doubts about the integrity of future elections. Indeed, even last week, he was falsely claiming massive fraud out here in California's Prop 50 election without supplying any evidence whatsoever to support that claim. And his opponents, according to Cheney and Gerstein, see the pardons as a permission slip for similar efforts in 26 and 28, if any of them want to carry it out. Quote, Trump is sending a message to his supporters that if you commit a crime in the name of Donald Trump, I have got your back, said Liz Oyer, the former U.S. pardon attorney whose successor, Ed Martin, announced the sweeping clemency on what is now called X. Oyer herself left the pardon office to be replaced by Ed Martin by Donald Trump's selection. And she spoke about all of this on Monday night with MSNBC's Rachel Maddo. Donald Trump just issued a blank check to break the law in the name of Donald Trump. He is telling his supporters, do what you have to do in support of Donald Trump. I've got your back. won't have to suffer the consequences that the law carries. It's really very chilling in this environment to think about what this could license these folks to do in the future. We've got midterm elections coming up again in a year. We've got all sorts of threats of political violence in this country. And Donald Trump seems to be telling his supporters, do what you have to do in my name, and I will protect you. Liz Oyer also said that the pardon was written so broadly. I wanted to say so badly. That too. So broadly that, in fact, it could apply to countless people who aided Trump's effort to stay in power despite losing the 2020 election, even though they are not specifically named. And the vaguely worded document permits Martin and other DOJ officials to simply decide for themselves. Who receives a pardon certificate? Hoyer said, that's just not how pardoned paperwork is written.

Well, it is now, Liz. The language in the pardon underscores that Trump's clemency is not limited to people named in the document. Rather, it applies to anyone who helped devise or advocate for Trump's strategy to use fraudulent slates of presidential electors as a prong of his strategy to remain in power. I think Politico means to steal the election, as well as others who work to quote, expose voting fraud and vulnerabilities in the 2020 election. And though those brain poisoned by Trump may not yet have noticed, but there has been no voting fraud exposed by those people in the five years since the 2020 election. And as to so-called vulnerabilities in the system, yeah, there are a lot of those. They were very well-known well before 2020, which is why folks like Sidney Jerome Powell and others were able to steal so much of the reporting from folks like, yes, me. in making their case about voting system vulnerabilities. But vulnerabilities do not equal election or voting fraud unless you're able to show that those vulnerabilities have somehow been exploited in some way. And the criminals on Team Trump have never been able to do that, not even once over the past five years. And one more related to gaming elections before we get to our latest Green News report today. The Supreme Court said on Monday that it would hear a Republican challenge to Mississippi's counting of mail-in ballots that were cast and sent by Election Day but which are received after Election Day in a case that could up and end. Mail-in ballot rules in dozens of states, including here in California, but in many states, about 30 of them, creating chaos leading up to the critical 2026 midterms. The potentially blockbuster case, as the New York Times describes it correctly, I think, asks the justices on the high court, on the corrupted high court to determine. The meaning of Election Day, as used by Congress in defining when people vote, adding yet another high-profile fight over elections and voting rights to this court's term. Already, the court's docket includes a lawsuit over who can sue to challenge Illinois' mail-in ballot rules and a battle over the Louisiana congressional district that could gut the remaining pillar of the Voting Rights Act. And as I mentioned earlier, allow dozens of states to yet again rewrite their U.S. House maps before next year's midterms, depending on when that opinion is released by the Republican High Court.

And in that case, it result in simply removing dozens of districts with minority representatives as previously mandated by the Voting Rights Act. In the Mississippi case, meanwhile, which is called Watson versus Republican National Committee. The state, the state of Mississippi, which is actually the good guys in this one, if you need to keep track, the state argued that Congress set only the date by when voters must make their choice. Not the date by when ballots must arrive. to be counted. Mississippi defended its five-day grace period, which is similar to ones that are in place in many states, allowing election officials to count ballots that have been mailed by Election Day but arrive a few days after through, you know, no fault of the voters. The challengers, which include the Republican National Committee here, want to toss all of those otherwise legally cast ballots. Of course they do. Largely because they believe that, you know, more Democrats vote by mail than Republicans do, so this will hurt Democrats more than it will hurt Republican candidates, even though these ballots were cast before Election Day, dropped in the mail, and then showed up a couple of days after the election. Either way, of course, all of this hurts democracy itself, which is also something that Republicans obviously now hate as well. That would be democracy. They hate it. In 2024, the RNC, along with the Mississippi Republican Party, challenged the state's mail-in ballot rules, arguing that Congress had intended that voting take place only on a single election day and that allowing ballots to arrive days later and still be counted, undermined election integrity and the public's trust in the vote. You know, Republicans are very concerned about that, trust in the vote. They keep saying so. A federal trial court judge actually upheld Mississippi's law here, finding that the state met federal requirements for elections because the mail-in ballots had to be postmarked by election day. Under the law, no ballots cast or mailed after that day are counted in Mississippi. And remember, we've been doing mail-in ballots for a long time. We did mail-in ballots during the Civil War. So no, everybody did not vote on the same day back in the Civil War. Nonetheless, even though the judge upheld Mississippi's law, a three-judge panel. On the very far, far-right U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the most radical far-right appeals court in the nation, other than arguably the Supreme Court itself at this point, the three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit sided with the RNC here. And they struck down Mississippi's grace period, which let it count the absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day as long as the ballots arrive up to five business days later.

That was struck down. The appeals court held that under federal law, ballots must be cast by voters and received by state officials on Election Day. So ballots that arrive before Election Day? I guess they shouldn't count either. If so, you know, so much for absentee or early voting. And that Mississippi's law, obviously. The appeals court determined that Mississippi's law conflicted with federal statutes by allowing ballots to be received after Election Day. The court said it was clear that a ballot was, quote, cast when the government received it, as opposed to, I guess, when someone actually, you know, cast it. when you thought you filled it out and dropped it into a drop box. He thought you were casting it. When you filled it out and you dropped it into a mailbox, you thought you were casting it. Apparently not. Apparently it's only once it's actually received by the government, according to this ruling from the far right Fifth Circuit. After the appeals court denied a request to rehear the case with the full court, Mississippi asked the Supreme Court. to weigh in on this. And on Monday, they agreed, in fact, that they would, which in this case, I can't tell it might actually be a good sign because if they agreed with the lower Fifth Circuit, they could have just rejected the state's petition. And then it would have stood. And then it would have stood. On the other hand, if the corrupted activist, right-wing Republicans on the Supreme Court want the Fifth Court's ruling to apply to... All 50 states, well, that's another reason why they might have decided to hear it after all. So they could have decided to hear it so they could overturn it or they might have decided to hear it so they could make everyone have to follow it, not just to overturn it, but to affirm it nationally and killing essentially all voting, but that which takes place on Election Day at the polling place as Donald Trump has been demanding. In its petition, Mississippi asserted that the appeals court ruling, quote, defies the federal election day statutes, plain text. Lawyers for the state argued that invalidating the law would, quote, have profound and destabilizing nationwide ramifications because it would, quote, scrap election laws in most states and would invite breakneck litigation and threaten electoral chaos, about which Mississippi is very correct. The challengers to the state law argued in a brief to the justices that the state... law allowed ballots to be accepted after Election Day, reducing time to resolve post-election disputes, and quote, deprive the electorate of a clear nationwide deadline, which of course is silly, but that's the GOP argument, and they are sticking to it. About 30 states and the District of Columbia accept some ballots that are mailed by Election Day but received later. The grace period differs in each state. Scotus

We'll hear the case sometime this spring with a decision expected by June or July next year just in time for the 2026 midterms. Oh, goody. And we are just in time, by the way, for our latest Green News Report. I'm not sugarcoating it. We have so much more work to do. Climate talks begin in Brazil with calls for faster action and without the U.S. The windy city lived up to its name with wind gust topping 50 miles an hour. The polar vortex is back. 200 million Americans hit with Arctic air. Plus, Australia has so much solar energy they're offering everyone free electricity. Really? Yeah. All of those stories and more straight ahead from bradblog.com. I'm Brad Friedman. And I'm Desi Doyen. Stand by for six minutes of independent green news, politics, analysis, and snarky comment. The real big winner was not on the ballot. Gavin Newsom, because Gavin Newsom, our governor here, he's the one who put Prop 50 on the ballot. Gavin said we've got to fight fire with fire. And if any state knows about fire. That would be us. This is your green news report. Okay, Tessie Toyin, well, for a few million people around the country. That happened pretty quickly. Yes, unfortunately, some 200 million Americans are affected by a blast of frigid air from the Arctic plunging deep into the United States. Several major cities hit with major snowstorms with potentially record low temperatures as far south as Texas and Florida. A growing body of climate research indicates that these outbreaks of the polar vortex are happening more frequently due to man-made global warming. is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, which is warping the flow of the jet stream that drives weather across the U.S., sort of stretching the jet stream and allowing Arctic air to spill much farther south more frequently. Research suggests that climate change may lead to even more frequent disruptions of the polar vortex. And, of course, it's a disruption of everything because when it gets really, really cold suddenly, that means the folks over at Fox News get to declare that global warming. is over. True. In other news, the latest round of UN climate negotiations began Monday in Brazil, known as COP 30, for short. It's been 10 years since the world nations united to ratify the historic Paris climate agreement to curb global warming by drastically reducing humanity's carbon emissions that cause it. In the 10 years since the Paris Accord was signed, the good news is that climate scientists say the worst-case extinction-level warming scenarios have been averted. Well, there's that. Thanks to the Paris Agreement and the surging clean energy revolution around the world. Thanks, clean energy revolution. However, governments are still falling short on cutting emissions quickly enough to prevent global temperatures from surging past the agreed-upon 2-degree Celsius threshold above pre-industrial levels, which scientists say will also still be extremely dangerous.

According to a new report by the UN's climate and weather agency, 2025 is on track to be the second or third warmest year globally after 2024. The overarching point of this summit in Brazil is how to close the gap between planned greenhouse gas emissions cuts and reality. UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez was characteristically blunt. The challenge is immense. But the choices are clear. No one can bargain with physics, but we can choose to lead. or be led to ruin. Still got that fake accent, I see. This summit is not expected to result in any ambitious new deals, especially since Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States from the climate agreement for a second time. Instead, organizers and analysts frame this year's conference as one devoted to updated national plans to implement their previous pledges. But several powerful countries are backsliding on climate action as far. right nationalism takes hold, particularly in the United States. The Trump administration is not sending any high-level representatives to the talks, and that's actually being celebrated with some diplomats saying that the U.S. presence, quote, would not be constructive. Yeah, sounds nice. California sent a large delegation led by California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom heard here on CNN. Standing in for my kids and grandkids, for common sense. for, you know, our economic future. I mean, climate risk is, you know, fundamentally financial risk. It's also about competitiveness. China's going to clean our clock. Nice to hear President Gavin Newsom out there. Finally, some good news. In Australia, they have so much solar energy that Australia's government is floating a program to offer everyone free electricity during peak hours in the middle of the day. That's because Australia has built out extensive rooftop solar across much of the country. The program would encourage residents to shift their electricity use to when solar power is the most abundant and free. Yep. Compare that to the soaring price of electricity in the United States. with the Trump administration working hard to gut the U.S. domestic renewable energy industry. For much more on all of these stories and the ones we couldn't get to today, check out our website at greennews.bradblog.com. I'm Brad Friedman. And I'm Desi Doyen. And this has been your Green News Report.

So you mean those socialists down there in Australia are giving away free electricity? Yeah, can you blame it? Because I got so much solar. They don't know what to do with it all. Yes. And meantime, Donald Trump is back to here tearing down solar projects and wind projects and everything else. And making sure the rest of them never get underway. My God, we are brilliant here in this country, aren't we? Anyway, thank you very much, Desi Doyen, our producer. You are brilliant. Thanks to everyone else. for sharing a portion of your day or night with us. If you missed any portion of today's show or any other we've ever done, download them all for free at bradblog.com anytime you like. There is no paywall there thanks to those of you who hit one of those donate buttons to help us stay on your public airwaves. You can also go straight to bradblog.com slash donate to help us do exactly that. Thank you in advance. Drop me email. I'm Bradcast at Bradblog.com and on the social media's I am the Bradd. Brad Blog, Desi Doyen, is... At Green News Report. We'll see you there. Until we see you here next time, I'm Brad Friedman. Good luck, world. Come on and take a free ride. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're listening to the Bradcast. We are 100% listener-supported thanks to listeners like you, who stopped by Bradblog.com slash donate.