The BradCast w/ Brad Friedman
'BradCast' 9/24/2024 (Good news for democracy in NE and AZ; Biden at the U.N. General Assembly)
On today's 'BradCast': We continue to focus on the track conditions affecting voters in the 2024 Election horse race. In Nebraska, Team Trump and Republican lawmakers tried a last-minute effort to rig the election in Trump's favor by changing the state's apportionment of electoral college votes - - but it appears the gambit has failed, for now. The Arizona Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Republican state lawmakers to purge nearly 100,000 voters from the rolls, just weeks before the election, for not providing proof of citizenship when they originally registered to vote. Montana's dangerous experiment in internet voting for people living overseas included a major failure - - ballots that omitted Vice President Kamala Harris. President Biden's final address to the United Nations General Assembly focused on bringing the world together. Plus our latest 'Green News Report,' and much more.
- Duration:
- 58m
- Broadcast on:
- 24 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
- My fellow leaders, let us never forget. Some things are more important than staying in power. It's your people. (audience applauding) (upbeat music) - Thank you Mr. President. ♪ Well I don't know why I gave you tonight ♪ ♪ I got the feeling of something right ♪ ♪ No way ♪ ♪ I'm so scared of you 'cause I fall off my chair ♪ ♪ And I'm wondering how I'll get downstairs ♪ ♪ Clowns to the left of me ♪ ♪ Jokers to the right ♪ ♪ Here I am ♪ ♪ I'm stuck in the middle with you ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ - From Pacifica Radio in Los Angeles, this is the Bradcast, as heard on KPFK 90.7 FM in LA, also in California in Red Bluff and Redding and KFOI in Round Mountains, KKRN, up in Oregon on the Central Coast on KYAQ, Konditgroves, KSO, and Eugene's, K-E-P-W. Lancaster, Pennsylvania's, W-N-U-N-U's, Maui, Hawaii's, K-A-K-U in Columbus, Ohio on W-G-R-N, Palinville, New York's, W-L-P-P. Rochester, New York, W-R-F-Z, down in New Orleans, and W-H-I-V out in Gallup, New Mexico on K-N-I-Z. Concord, New Hampshire's, W-N-H-N, Bayonville, Arkansas's, K-P-S-Q in Seattle on K-O-D-X. Richmond, Virginia's, W-R-W-K, Fairmont, West Virginia's, W-E-F-R, Jamesville, Wisconsin's, W-A-D-R, and Minneapolis, St. Paul's, A-M-9-50-K-T-N-F. We also stream coast to coast and around the globe for you every day on the internets for your listening convenience, on the Progressive Voices channel, NetRoots Radio, Radio for Humans, to call Sandler.com, Radio Free Brooklyn, No Lies Radio, Detour Talk, and most of your favorite podcasts, sites, Blankening Planet, Earth, I'm Brad Friedman, your friendly investigative blogger, journalist, troublemaker, muckraker, and all around Swellfellow, says me, from Bradblog.com. Thank you for tuning in to another thrilling edition of the Bradcast. As usual, we've got a lot to get to today, as we keep our eyes straight on the, well, the election, horse race, and more importantly, the track conditions on which the horses are running. To that end, we have several stories from around the nation today, and believe it or not, most of them are actually good news regarding those track conditions for a happy change. What? - Don't get used to it, but yes, it's nice to have. - First however, just to, you know, so you don't get too happy, as is all too frequent these days, the case as the climate crisis worsens. We gotta start out here with a bit of news on two, not one, but two major storms, Hurricane John blew ashore as a surprisingly strong category three on the west coast of Mexico overnight. Surprising, since I think it started the day as a category one, and sped up that quickly. - Actually, it started as a tropical storm, and rapidly intensified twice over, went through two cycles before hitting as a category three, less than 24 hours. - And a second storm threatening the continental US, known yesterday simply as Storm Nine, but today it is now officially tropical storm Helene. - Helene. - Helene, that could apparently become a major monster storm threatening Florida in the coming days, Desi Doyle. - Oh, yes it could, everybody do not turn your backs on Helene, but first with Hurricane Giants now been downgraded to a tropical storm, and it was near Puerto Escondido, which is north of Acapulco, and it's now a slow moving storm, dumping tons and tons of rain, causing flash floods and mudslides. At least two people have been killed so far, and on Hurricane, soon to be, I should say, Hurricane Helene. That is now, as you said, a tropical storm, but it is forecast to bring life-threatening storm surge to Florida's west coast. So folks need to be speeding up their preparations if they are in Florida. It's likely to strike the Big Bend region of Florida on Sunday. - Again, I think they got hit already this year with a storm in the Big Bend area, didn't they? - Yeah, Hurricane Debbie. And also, just wanna note, however, that there's a small change in the storm's track, can make a huge difference. All signs right now show that this storm could be a significant multi-billion dollar disaster depending on how close it comes to the more heavily populated areas of Florida's Tampa, for example, like Tampa Bay, which is uniquely vulnerable to a direct hit from a storm at high tide. We'll see what happens. Looks like a landfall is projected to be Thursday around 8 p.m. Eastern. - More on those, any word, by the way, if whether John is gonna hop over the peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico and become a hurricane again? - No word yet, it is a slow moving storm. So right now it might just dissipate over the mountains. We don't know that. - Well, that would be better than two hurricanes, two major hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico at the same time, aiming for the U.S. All right, more on those storms and related climate news coming up later this hour in Desi's latest green news report, but let's otherwise begin with what appears at this hour anyway, as I noted, to be some good news regarding a story that we spent some time on late last week on this program. As you may recall, I detailed the potentially disturbing scenario in which Democrats and the Kamala Harris campaign win all three so-called blue wall states in November this year, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, along with all of the other traditionally blue states, but then lose all of the other battleground states, namely Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada to Trump in that scenario. Harris would actually still win the electoral college and the presidency along with it with exactly 270 electoral votes. That is the number that is needed to win the White House. That as long as she also wins Nebraska's second congressional district in one of the only two states in the union, along with Maine, that actually splits their electoral votes up by congressional district. All of the others award their electors as winner take all, whoever wins the popular vote in the state wins all of the state's electoral votes. Now in 2020, Donald Trump won four of Nebraska's electoral votes, and Joe Biden won the one single district that includes Omaha in the otherwise ruby red state. Trump won all five of the electoral votes in Nebraska back in 2016. Now Harris's blue wall strategy of winning at a minimum, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania would work even if she lost all of the other battleground states, as long as she also won that one single Nebraska district giving her 270 electoral votes nationally to Trump's 268. But Trump has been pushing Nebraska as we initially reported last week because of this to change the way its electoral votes are apportioned to a winner take all system because of this exact scenario. In which case, he believes that he would win the White House with a 268 to 268 electoral vote tie because in such a scenario, the presidency would then be decided by a vote of U.S. House delegations, state delegations, which almost certainly favored Donald Trump, even if Democrats went back a majority of the overall seats in the U.S. House this November. Well, seemingly very good news on that front since we last reported on this somewhat far-fetched, but totally completely plausible scenario. Last week, Trump lackey, Senator Lindsey Graham, as we told you, had been dispatched to Nebraska to meet with its Republican governor, Jim Pillin, who earlier this year had unsuccessfully pushed the GOP-controlled state legislature to adopt a measure to change the state back to a winner take all system for the first time in 30 years. And with other GOP state lawmakers, they met with Lindsey Graham to encourage the governor to call a special session for the legislature, which is not currently in session, calling them together for the single purpose of changing this law before the election. Now, just six weeks out from election day. Toward all of the state's electoral college votes to the popular winner of the state, which is almost certain to be Donald Trump. We then learned over the weekend that Trump himself had called the governor personally to push him to do exactly that, yet again last week. Governor Pillin had said, well, he'd be happy to call a special session if he knew for a fact that he had enough Republican votes in the legislature to successfully change the law. But earlier this year when he tried, he did not have the votes. And it was unclear if he has them now, despite the additional pressure from Team Trump. Well, there was seemingly good news on that front for Democrats on Monday and a bit of additional good news, it seems today. On Monday afternoon, CNN reported that a pressure campaign from Donald Trump and Republican allies to change the Nebraska election law was dealt a significant setback on Monday as a pivotal Omaha state senator, said he would not support a last ditch effort to overturn the 30 year law that awards the electoral votes by congressional district. State Senator Mike McDonald, a former Democrat who joined the GOP earlier this year, said in a statement on Monday that he would not vote to change law in Nebraska before this year's election. He said, quote, after deep consideration, it's clear to me that right now 43 days from election day is not the moment to make this change. He said, I have notified Governor Jim Pillin that I will not change my long held position and will oppose any attempted changes to our electoral college system before the 2024 election. McDonald, as CNN reports was seen as one of the last best hopes from Republicans to change the law before November, said McDonald, quote, McConnell, McDonald, that's right, quote. Nebraska voters, Nebraska voters, not politicians of either party, should have the final say on how we pick a president. So, good for McDonald, who, as noted, had been a Democrat until this year, and I suspect has likely been under unrelenting pressure to go along with this GOP scheme. Oh, yeah. I'd like to say good for him for not folding to it, but he might have a bit of an ulterior motive for not doing so. McDonald flipped parties after being censured by Democrats over his stance on abortion. So, he doesn't necessarily feel like, you know, doing any favors for Democrats, I suspect. And this might even be a good time to get them back. But McDonald apparently wants to run for mayor of Omaha, which is in the blue part of the state. Nebraska's blue dot in a sea of red as grassroots yard signs now around Omaha show it as a reminder to vote for Harris, just signs with a big blue dot. If they don't see anything else on them, just a big blue dot on them, which is pretty clever in the district where Democrats hope to win that one single electoral vote. So, there is speculation that helping to pull off this last minute switch, even if Republicans were able to pull it off would be deeply damaging to McDonald's mayoral prospects in Omaha, because, you know, if this plot worked, he would effectively have been the key vote used to steal the votes of the majority of Omaha's Democratic voters. Not a good look if he's hoping to win the job of mayor there in the future. - Well, I also hope that he actually means what he says about, you know, that voters should be the one to have the final say here, that it's not a political advantageous moment for him to do that. But I think we should be clear about what's actually happening. - I'm sure politics, yes, yes. - Well, but this is Trump and Republicans in a last minute push to rig the election for Trump in Nebraska. So, I think that's the more important focus. - Whatever the reason for McDonald hanging tough under pressure from the governor, from Trump, from Lindsey Graham, from, you know, Trump's minions, the announcement is obviously good news for the Harris campaign. They are spending millions to try and win that sole electoral vote in Nebraska for Democrats again this year. So, McDonald's statement on Monday, that seemed to close the door on this issue. This year, according to CNN, but, you know, as you know, with these people and with Trump's thuggery, nothing is really ever a done deal, especially if it's something that he has lost on. So, overnight, I was hopeful, but I was uncertain. I'm still uncertain today, given who we're dealing with here. But as of Tuesday morning, there was an additional note of confirmation that maybe for this year anyway, at least, maybe this issue is finally put to bed. Also from CNN today, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillens said Tuesday that he has, quote, "No plans to call a special session "to change the way the state allocates electoral votes "to a winner-take-all system, "ending an effort by Donald Trump, "at least as CNN declares." - At least for now. - The, said the Republican governor, quote, "Given everything at stake for Nebraska and our country, "we have left every inch on the field to get this done. "Unfortunately," he said, "we could not persuade "33 state senators." Pillens said, going on to, I guess, name-shame McDonald here, quote, "Senator Mike McDonald of Omaha, "I mean, why did you just give out his home address "for crying out loud?" Anyway, Pillens said, "McDonald has confirmed "he is unwilling to vote for winner-take-all "before the 2024 election. "That is profoundly disappointing to me "and the many others who have worked so earnestly "to ensure all Nebraska's votes are sought after equally "this election." Which is a strange way to describe Nebraska's system, frankly. He went on, based on the lack of 33 votes, they have no plans to call a special session on this issue prior to the 24 election. And with that, CNN reports the statement, puts an end to a saga that saw Trump attempt to pressure state lawmakers to change Nebraska's law in time for the vote in November. Now, normally I would say, well, yeah, we'll see what an end is put to the matter. But the former president did weigh in on Monday night on this on his failing social media site to say, quote, "In all caps, I love Omaha "and won it in 2016, looks like I'll have to do it again." Yes, you'll have to win it again, sir. You won't just be giving it-- - Yeah, that is kind of how it works. - In fact, Trump did win that district back in 2016 against Hillary Clinton before Biden then won it back in 2020, which is why the Harris campaign, they're taking nothing for granted here even for that one single electoral vote, which could, depending on the scenario of this November, could be the one single electoral vote that determines who wins the White House and the future of the nation and the future of the world along with it. But hey, no pressure Omaha. Hope you get out there and vote this year. For the record while the Harris Wall's team is spending millions in the district to try and win it, CNN reports that Trump and Republicans have spent virtually no money there so far. In another sort of follow-up today with, I think, some good news, we've been reporting on this program, well, for some months, but really for years at this point, about Arizona Republicans' multiple attempts to suppress the vote by demanding that newly registered voters provide not just ID as is already required for new registrants under federal law in all 50 states, but actual proof of citizenship when registering to vote, requiring a document like a birth certificate or a passport in order to vote, documents which, by the way, millions of American citizens do not actually have. State Republicans enacted a law to require this back in 2004. It was challenged all the way up to the Supreme Court because, among other reasons, Republicans were using it to try to prevent voters who had registered to vote with the National Voter Registration Form, trying to prevent them from voting. That national form, which is available to everybody in all 50 states to register to vote in your state, it's available, it was made available by law under the National Voter Registration Act. It was specifically mandated because some states, yes, like Arizona, made it difficult for certain people to register to vote. So this, you know, makes it easy. You can get this online, no matter where you live, you can use it to register to vote in your own state, and that is that. But like most state registration forms, at least other than Arizona, the National Forum simply asks the registrant to affirm under penalty of law that they are, in fact, a citizen. It doesn't tell the voter that, well, hey, if you live in Arizona, you also gotta offer up, you know, some proof of citizenship papers somehow. So therefore, back when we had a not completely corrupted US Supreme Court, the court said that this law was unconstitutional, or at least that it was unconstitutional to block voters from voting if they use the National Forum to register to vote. In response to the time, Republicans said, okay, fine, the US Supreme Court, they can tell us what to do regarding federal elections, like for president and the US Senate, but they can't tell us what to do for state and local elections. So the state of Arizona became the first, and I believe still only state in the union to offer two different types of ballots, depending on the way that you are registered to vote. One ballot for federal-only voters, those who will only be allowed to vote in federal races, because they signed up with the National Registration Forum, and those who are allowed to vote in all races in the state, state, local, you know, state ballot measures and so forth. That's largely where things were. Until Republicans tried again to block federal-only voters from voting at all, either in person or by mail. After a 2022 law that they adopted after they clearly thought they had a friendlier US Supreme Court, but lawsuits have been filed to allow those about 50,000 or so federal-only voters in Arizona to vote this year, even as that effort was challenged by both state Republicans and by the RNC. They actually tried to block voters who registered decades ago before the 2004 law from voting in state and local elections if they didn't add somehow documents for proof of citizenship to their voter registration files. They were going after anyone who didn't have citizenship papers, somehow attached to their registration files in Arizona. Republicans were trying to purge those rolls. Didn't care how long ago you signed up to vote. So they've been working really hard to purge basically tens of thousands from the voter rolls this year, at the very least, in regard to local, state, and local and state election matters. But for all elections, if they could get away with it, so it was very odd to hear last week, the chair of the Arizona Republican Party, Gina Swaboda, say this at a Republican event. - The question before me, in my hat as the chair, is do I want to deprive these people, whether rightfully or wrongfully, of the opportunity to vote for the legislative races and the ballot measures and the county races and their local races. And the answer is no, I don't want to do anything, to change a voter status when this is no fault of their own, when we're gonna start voting in 21 days. It's my position as the Republican Party chair of the state of Arizona, that I do not want these people moved from full ballot to fed only, that will not, for the millionth time, I know you're sick of it, but it's not gonna affect the races at the top of the ballot. No matter what, these people are gonna get those races. My position is based on the fact that I think we're too close to the election and it would be wrong. - Well, well, that's nice. That sure is upstanding of her, isn't it? - Mm, sure it is, but. - But, well, it doesn't seem to explain all of those other cases that I've already mentioned in which the Arizona Republican Party has been trying to purge voters from the rolls. All of a sudden she, "Ah, I don't think that would be right to do." Well, that's not how she felt, you know, before last week. So, what's up with this apparent change of heart for the Arizona Republican Party chair? Well, apparently, it was recently discovered that due to a glitch, essentially, in the state's voter registration database, about 98,000 people whose citizenship documents had not been confirmed were on the rolls, even though they should have had to prove their citizenship somehow. Now, it's complicated, but basically, as I understand it, it had to do with people who had initially registered with driver's licenses that were issued before 1996, when Arizona licenses after 1996 are now considered to be proof of citizenship. But these voters, as I understand it, when their licenses were later renewed, they did not have to prove proof of citizen, provide proof of citizenship at the motor vehicle office for that renewal, but the voter database, because they had originally a post-1996, driver's license assumed that they were citizens based on that. Like I said, it's confusing, it's kind of a mess. But because of this issue, there's about 96,000 people on the rolls who didn't provide the documentation that Republicans have for years demanded. So the Republican election recorder in Maricopa County, a good guy, by the way, one of the good ones when it comes to Republicans, a good guy named Stephen Richter in Maricopa County, that's Phoenix, it's the largest voting jurisdiction by far in the state, he sued to remove those, whatever, 96,000 voters from the rolls in a case in which he sort of worked with the state's Democratic Secretary of State, Adrian Fontis, who's also a good guy, who used to be the recorder in Maricopa until Stephen Richter replaced him. Anyway, Fontis opposed this, and they sort of worked together in the suit, it seems to me, so that they could get essentially an advisory opinion from the state court on what to do about it. Richter in Maricopa didn't actually want to remove those 98,000 voters, but he felt that the law required him to do so unless otherwise authorized by the courts. Well, the good news, on Friday, via AP, the Arizona Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Friday that nearly 98,000 people who citizenship documents in Arizona hadn't been confirmed can, in fact, vote in state and local races, a significant decision that could influence ballot measures and tight legislative races this year, tight races indeed. Democrats, as I recall, are just one vote away in both the state House and Senate in Arizona from winning back majorities in both of them this year. And it was the crazy GOP-controlled House and Senate in Arizona, you may recall, that, for example, ran that crazy post-election so-called audit for millions of state tax dollars after 2020, an audit that ended up confirming Biden, yes, had defeated Donald Trump in the state, not to mention the state GOP legislature and their abortion bans that they put in place after Roe v. Wade was overturned. And yes, there is an abortion rights referendum on the Arizona state ballot this November. After the GOP had instituted the Trump abortion bans in the state. So yeah, a lot is riding on those state and local races in Arizona, along with the federal races, in what is now a very tight battleground state. Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer wrote in the ruling last week, quote, "We are unwilling on these facts "to disenfranchise voters en masse "from participating in state contests." Well, thank you, Chief Justice. Both Secretary of State Fontess and the Maricopa Recorder, Richard, they both celebrated the court's ruling. Richard said on Twitter, thank God. Fontess in a news release called the ruling, quote, "a significant victory for those "who's fundamental right to vote was under scrutiny." But why, that still doesn't answer why, was the state GOP chair so eager to not disenfranchise all of those voters after filing suit after suit to try and purge so many of them? Well, the website Democracy Docket, run by Democratic election attorney Mark Elias may have offered the answer last week on the day prior to the state court ruling. They write that, quote, when it was revealed earlier this week that a data error in Arizona's election system cast the eligibility of nearly 98,000 registered voters into question, it put Gina Swaboda, the chair of the state Republican party into an awkward position. After years of defending the state's restrictive documentary proof of citizenship requirement, she is now taking the position that actually it's not necessary for people to provide their proof of citizenship to vote after all. So as you heard, in that clip, Swaboda said that, quote, it's my position as chair of the Republican party of Arizona that these 98,000 people should not be stripped of the right to vote in the legislative races or in the county races or local races or school board races or any of the propositions on the ballot, all of which are important, et cetera. In fact, that was the official position that the Arizona GOP took last week in this particular case with the state Supreme Court in an amicus brief that they filed to persuade the court to let the affected voters cast a ballot in the November elections. So why is this the state GOP suddenly siding with Arizona's Democratic Secretary of State who called for tens of thousands to vote to be able to vote, even though they didn't provide proof of citizenship? Well, it comes down. Democracy docket observes to the partisan breakdown of those specific affected voters. Apparently, it includes more than 36,000 Republicans and just about 26,000 Democrats. Oops. And the rest are other parties or have no designated party in a press conference on Tuesday. Fontess, the Democratic Secretary of State last week, who remember he opposed this purge, he said that a majority of those voters are registered as Republicans. As Arizona's central noted, GOP control of the state's legislature is at stake in November, meaning that if the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the affected voters can't cast their ballots in state and local questions in elections in November, it could cost them control of the Arizona House of Representatives and its Senate. So that would kind of explain it, wouldn't it? In their most recent brief, Democracy docket notes, the Arizona GOP argued that the National Voter Registration Act prohibits voter list maintenance within 90 days of a general election for federal office, and thus the affected voters should vote on the full ballots that they're scheduled to receive, which is nice, except back in 22, the citizenship requirement challenge lawsuit that the Republicans filed. They argued that Arizona's list maintenance for citizenship status does not violate the NVRAs 90 days. Blackout period. And so for Swabota and the Arizona GOP, who have spent years defending the state's documentary proof of citizenship law, falsely claiming in court, and over social media that it somehow helps prevent non-citizens from voting in elections, well, they were last week for the first time fighting against that restrictive law that they passed, and several times when all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend, no matter how much it has impacted Arizona voters. Now, all of a sudden, they care. So keep that in mind. Next time you hear these false evidence-free claims by Republicans, and you're gonna hear a lot of them this year, that they must purge voters. Because who knows? There might be non-citizens somewhere on the rolls. We've got no evidence of it, but who knows? There might be, purge them. Anyway, good news, I think, for democracy. In both of these matters today, both in Nebraska and in Arizona, go figure. All right, I'm running a little bit long here. Let me take a quick break. And then I got one more election track condition story I wanna try to get to today, along with some thoughts from President Joe Biden. Remember him? He spoke on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York for what will be his last time as president, and he had some thoughts worth sharing, I think. That's all straight ahead, along with Desi and the Green News Report. I'm Brad Friedman, and you are listening to The Bradcast. ( Hey, this is Brad here at The Bradcast and BradBlog.com. We fight for election integrity all year around. Like no other media outlet in the nation. But of course, we need your help to help us remain on your public airwaves and completely independent. Please help us continue that fight over your public airwaves by stopping by BradBlog.com/donate. And thanks. (upbeat music) ♪ Lost in Montana ♪ ♪ Where your heart can find me wrong ♪ - Welcome back, it's Bradcast, Brad Friedman from BradBlog.com. We will get lost in Montana in a moment. And also, we'll get to Joe Biden on Tuesday at the UN. But one more track condition story for today. Anyone's listening to this show or redbrandblog.com over the years, knows there's one type of voting system that I find even more objectionable and more terrifying than 100% unverifiable touchscreen voting systems. That would be internet voting. - Ah, yes. - Or online voting, whatever you wanna call it, whatever you wanna call this terrible idea that is roundly rejected by virtually every legitimate cybersecurity and voting system expert who has rung in on the matter. For all sorts of reasons, regarding security and transparency and much more, everyone who's looked seriously at the feasibility of internet voting in the US has pretty much rejected the idea as a terrible one. And yet, some states around the country are in fact using it anyway. Usually, it's on a very limited basis for overseas absentee and military voters. In most cases, I believe it's still used as a way to allow someone to download a PDF of a ballot online if they need to and print it out, fill it in and mail it back in. But in some cases, for example, yes, in Montana, where the race for US Senate between incumbent Democratic Senator John Tester and his Republican challenger, Tim Sheehee, where that race could end up determining which party controls the US Senate next year and all that goes with it, including, you know, federal judges and Supreme Court nominations, et cetera. Well, this story, for the moment anyway, doesn't seem to include specific concerns about the US Senate, but as Newsweek reported on Monday, Montana's election season got off to a rocky start late last week after some overseas absentee voters realized Kamala Harris was not a listed candidate on their ballot. That's a problem. The state was forced to shut down its electronic absentee voter system and internet voting system. Yes, the kind that we have long warned against after it went live on September 20, when a voter reported there was no option to vote for the vice president. Max Hymnsole, a Montana voter living in the UK, reported the issue when trying to fill out his ballot online, according to a local newspaper. He reported it right away to the Flathead County, Montana election department on Friday, September 20. As a precaution, the Secretary of State's office run by Republican Christie Jacobson took down the electronic absentee system for troubleshooting. Well, I should think so. Although the office insisted that it, that very few voters had been affected by the issue. How many? Don't know. Why? 'Cause internet voting. It could be two. It could be 10,000. Who knows? The Deputy Editor of Features at the local Daily Interlake. It's a news site in Montana told Newsweek, quote, "My understanding is that the voting system "was working fine again by Friday afternoon." The office reassured voters that this issue affects only electronic absentee ballots, which are for members of the armed forces living abroad, spouses or dependents of members of the armed forces living abroad, US citizens living abroad, and per the Montana Secretary of State's website, quote, "Other individuals meeting definitions "of absent, uniformed service voters "and overseas voters in Montana law." Oh, so only them. That seems like a lot of people who could vote on a 100% unverifiable and easily hacked internet voting system. According to the Daily Interlake, the Secretary of State has assured voters that this ballot issue will not affect physical absentee ballots or election day ballots. Feel better? Max Crows, the former Vice Chair of the Montana Democratic Party, did not feel better. He said on Twitter, quote, "This is criminal. "The Montana SOS is an arm of the corrupt Montana GOP." It is not apparently the first time that this Republican Secretary of State has come under fire from Democrats and left-leaning voters in the state. Jacobson was involved in a recent election controversy involving Montana's securing reproductive rights and abortion rights group in the state, which threatened Jacobson with a lawsuit in July this year for removing names from a petition to get abortion included as a right in the Montana Constitution. The group claimed that Jacobson removed the names of registered but inactive voters from its petition. Inactive voters are those who haven't voted in two federal elections in a row, but they remain on the rolls and they can be immediately reactivated if they show up to vote. The Secretary of State's office said that they were entitled to discount those inactive voters as qualified electors and therefore their signature did not count on the petition. The group took the suit to court on July 10 and the courts ruled that Jacobson must, in fact, put the removed signatures back onto the petition. The group was ultimately successful and Jacobson was forced to certify a ballot measure for the November election in Montana that if successful would allow abortions until fetal viability around 24 weeks. And later, if needed to protect the mother's life or health, the initiative would enshrine into the state constitution a 1999 state Supreme Court ruling finding the constitutional right to privacy includes the right of a patient to receive an abortion from a provider of their choice in Montana. Jacobson is no fan of democracy. She also recently asked the US Supreme Court to consider appealing voter laws that were found to be unconstitutional by the Montana State Supreme Court. Laws that were struck down that had prevented 17 year olds from obtaining a ballot, even if they turned 18 by election day, that eliminated same day registration, that refused university ID as valid ID, et cetera, those laws were struck down by the state Supreme Court. Jacobson had gone to the US Supreme Court to try to have those voter suppression laws reinstated. The Supreme Court has yet to ring in. In other news here, President Biden on Tuesday delivered his fourth and final speech to the UN General Assembly in New York as president of these United States. It was a wide ranging 20 minute address. Biden noted the quote, "remarkable sweep of history." He had seen in his more than 50 years of public service. He expressed optimism for the future. Despite the continuing conflicts in the Middle East, Ukraine and elsewhere, his remarks focused heavily on the West's largely united response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and his decision. To finally end, the US is 20 year conflict in Afghanistan calling a quote, "a hard decision," but the right decision. He spoke about the tens of thousands of Palestinians that have been killed in Gaza saying, quote, "They didn't ask for this war, reiterating the need for Israel and Hamas to sign on to his ceasefire and hostage release plan, urging Israel and Lebanon to step back from all out war." He spoke to an array of other issues, including the climate crisis, the need to increase humanitarian assistance to war-ravaged areas like Gaza and Ukraine and Sudan, and the implications of new technologies like AI. Politico reports that the prospect of Trump's return to the White House hovered over the UN this week, worrying other world leaders unsure of America's future and the world even as Biden reminded fellow world leaders to make decisions without their own political interests in mind. As the New York Times observed, Biden used his final speech to the UN to celebrate his work to restore America's global alliances, but he also warned that the advances of his administration could easily fall apart if America returns to isolationism. He sounded an optimistic tone about the international community's ability to pull together, to tackle global crises and highlighted key problems that are yet to be solved. Here are just some of the key excerpts from Biden's final address to the United Nations on Tuesday. I recognize that challenges from Ukraine to Gaza, to Sudan and beyond, war, hunger, terrorism, brutality, record displacement of people, a climate crisis, democracy at risk, strange in our societies, a promise of artificial intelligence and a significant risk. Well, this goes on, but maybe because all I've seen and all we have done together over the decades, I have hoped. I know there is a way forward. In 1919, the Irish poet William Butler Yeast described the world, and I quote, "For things fall apart, the center cannot hold." Mayor Anak is loosed upon the world, end of quote. Some may say those words describe the world, not just in 1919, but in 2024. I see a critical distinction. In our time, the center has held. Leaders and people from every region and across the political spectrum have stood together, turn the page, turn the page in the worst pandemic in a century, we made sure COVID no longer controls our lives. We defended the UN Charter and ensured the survival of Ukraine as a free nation. My country made the largest investment in climate, clean energy, ever anywhere in history. They'll always be forces to pull our countries apart. In the world apart, aggression, extremism, chaos and cynicism, a desire to retreat from the world and go it alone. Our task, our test is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger and those are pulling us apart. That the principle is a partnership that we came here each year to uphold, can withstand the challenges. That the center holds, once again, my fellow leaders, I truly believe we're at another inflection point in the world history where the choices we make today will determine our future for decades to come. When we stand behind the principles that unite us, we stand firm against aggression. When we end the conflicts that are raging today, we take on global challenges like climate change, hunger and disease. When we plan now for the opportunities and risk of a revolutionary new technologies. To start, each of us in this body has made a commitment to the principles of the UN Charter to stand up against aggression. When Russia invaded Ukraine, we could have stood by and merely protested. Advice President Harris and I understood that that was an assault on everything this institution was supposed to stand for. And so, my direction in America stepped into the breach, providing massive security and economic and humanitarian assistance. Our NATO allies and partners in 50-plus nations stood up as well. But most importantly, the Ukrainian people stood up. I asked the people of this chamber to stand up for them. The good news is Putin's war has failed and is at his core aim. He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free. He set out to weaken NATO, but NATO is bigger, stronger, and more united than ever before with two new members, Finland and Sweden. But we cannot let up. We're all now has another choice to make. Will we sustain our support to help Ukraine win this war and preserve its freedom, or walk away and let aggression be renewed in a nation and be destroyed? I know my answer. We cannot grow weary. We cannot look away, and we will not let up in our support for Ukraine. Not to Ukraine wins a just and adorable piece when you're in charge of it. I've made the preservation of democracy the central cause of my presidency. This summer, I faced a decision, whether the seeker's second term as president, was a difficult decision. Being president has been the honor of my life. There's so much more I want to get done. As much as I love the job, I love my country more. I decided after 50 years of public service, it's time for new generation leadership to take my nation forward. My fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are more important than staying in power. It's your people. From Ghana to India to South Korea, nations representing one quarter of humanity who will hold elections this year alone. It's remarkable the power of we the people that makes me more optimistic about the future than I've ever been. Since I was first elected the United States Senate in 1972, every age faces its challenges. I saw it as a young man. I see it today, but we are stronger than we think. We're stronger together than alone. And what the people call impossible is just an illusion. Nelson Mandela taught us and I quote, "It always seems impossible until it's done. "It always seems impossible until it's done." My fellow leaders, there's nothing that's beyond their capacity if we work together. Let's work together. God bless you all and may God protect all those who seek peace. Thank you. (audience applauding) - President Joe Biden speaking at the UN General Assembly for the final time as president in New York on Tuesday. Quick break and we're back with the Green News Report. I'm Brad Friedman and this is The Bradcast. - 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/donate. That's bradblog.com/donate. And thanks. (upbeat music) - Hey, we're watching a story, late breaking story this afternoon. Dangerous chemical leaks, spurs evacuation order in Ohio town, apparently students in school buildings and residents in neighboring homes in Cleves, Ohio were told to evacuate after a chemical leak began coming out from a rail car Tuesday. This is near Cincinnati, apparently. Toxic and flammable chemical that is used to make plastic and rubber was leaking from this thing. So we'll keep our eyes on this. See what develops, but you know what? Speaking of plastic, let's get to it. Our latest Green News Report. - This case is first of its kind in the nation, holding ExxonMobil accountable for their lives. - California soothes ExxonMobil for lying about effectiveness of recycling. Infamous Three Mile Island comes back to power Microsoft AI plus. - We gather today representing the peoples of the world, united by our shit as petitions for the future. - Climate Week Summit kicks off in New York City. - All of those kick offs and more straight ahead from bradblog.com. I'm Brad Friedman. - And I'm Desi Doyan. - And I'm Desi Doyan. - Standby for six minutes of independent Green News, politics, analysis, and snarky comments. - They want money, they want to build windmills. We want money with these windmills, yay, yay, yay. (audience laughs) - Right there, he's actually quoting my favorite line from Don Quixote. - These windmills, yay, yay, yay. It's gonna take a lot of hoods, but to defeat these schmucks and the fakakus man of sun, I'm shrimpsin' my sanchos off over here, yay, yay. - This is your Green News Report. - Of course you all remember that for the musical version, "Man of La Maza." (upbeat music) ♪ I'm gonna soak up the sun ♪ - Okay, Desi Doyan. Well, this one came out of nowhere, didn't it? Oh, yes it did, in the Pacific Ocean. Hurricane John rapidly spun up in a day to a category three before making landfall on Mexico's west coast on Monday, and heads up Florida and the Gulf Coast. As we go to air, the National Hurricane Center forecasts a new storm to be named Helene, likely to undergo rapid intensification this week, fueled by record warm Gulf of Mexico waters. - Just like the rapid intensification of Hurricane John, which if it skips over the peninsula, we could be looking at two hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico at the same time. - Fun, studies show rapid intensification of storms is occurring more frequently due to man-made global warming, giving coastal communities very little time to prepare. In other news, it's climate week in New York City, running concurrent with the United Nations General Assembly, bringing together a broad swath of activists, elected officials and industry and finance leaders, typically a platform for big sustainability pledges and other announcements before the next phase of UN climate treaty talks in mid-November. They will be hosted this year by oil producing nation, Azerbaijan. - Yes. - Climate week's focus is climate solutions and the surge in renewable energy investment and the ongoing fight to divest from fossil fuel finance. In advance of the summit, protesters around the world took to the streets for a global climate strike. Meanwhile, a new study warns that 2/3 of the world's population will see a rapid increase in unprecedented weather events unless governments move faster to cut greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. - You mean like two hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico at once? - Yeah, scientists from Europe's Center for International Climate Research project that extreme weather events will intensify rapidly over the next 20 years. Computing giant Microsoft announced it will pay an undisclosed amount to reopen the infamous three-mile island nuclear plant. Yes, that one, the site of the worst nuclear accident in US history in order to provide power for its artificial intelligence data centers. - Well, that's important. - To help the company meet its targets for zero carbon electricity over the next 20 years. - That's not the zero carbon we had in mind, Microsoft. - This appears to be the first time any company has secured 100% of a nuclear facility for its own use. Bloomberg News reports that the insatiable electricity demands of AI and cryptocurrency have triggered, quote, "a surprising resurgence in gas-fired power plants in 2024, slowing down the transition to clean energy." - And if I'm not mistaken, I think this is the first time that a nuclear plant that has been taken offline has been put back online. - Yeah, I think so. - Thanks, climate change. - Finally, after a lengthy investigation, the state of California sued ExxonMobil on Monday, accusing the oil giant of lying about plastic recycling in a, quote, "decades long campaign of deception "about the effectiveness of plastic recycling "despite knowing it isn't viable at scale." Instead, blaming consumers for plastic waste. Exxon is the world's largest producer of plastic polymers. This first-of-its-kind lawsuit seeks civil penalties and other payments to compensate the state for the costs inflicted by plastic pollution. At a climate-week event in New York, Attorney General Bonta explained why he is holding Exxon accountable. - For their lives, for their sham solutions, for manipulating the public, for lying to consumers. We don't believe our corporations should lie to us. They've done it for decades, knowingly, perpetuated the myth of recycling. And they deserve and need a judgment day, and we are gonna bring it to them with our lawsuit. - Go get 'em, Bonta. 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. Find, follow, and share us planet-wide on the Facebooks, mastodons, and sites still known as Twitter at Green News Report. I'm Brad Friedman. - And I'm Desi Doyan. - And this has been your Green News Report. ♪ It hurts too much to breathe ♪ ♪ All alone in this plastic jungle ♪ - Oh, indeed. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Desi Doyan. Thanks to all of you for spending a portion of your day or night with us. If you missed any portion of today's show or just wanna hear it all again, you can download it anytime for free at Bradblog.com. That service, no paywall made possible thanks to those of you kind enough to hit one of those donate buttons over there, or go straight to Bradblog.com/donate. Drop me email. I'm Bradcast at Bradblog.com. Always good to hear from ya or find me on the social medias at the Bradblog. We will see you there. Until we see you here next time, I'm Brad Friedman. Good luck, world! [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]