On today’s BradCast, we try and wrestle the Monday blizzard of incoming news to the ground — some of which suggest that maybe we’re getting somewhere. Finally. Maybe. A little. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]
Among the stories covered on today’s program…
- Steve Bannon turns himself in to federal prosecutors to face two charges of criminal Contempt of Congress, each of which could earn him as much as a year in prison. But the message sent with his indictment by Attorney General Merrick Garland to the other three dozen or so Trumpers who have also been subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attempt to steal the 2020 election, is the most important point here. Donald Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows may face similar charges after defying his own subpoena on Friday. Trump himself could also still be subpoenaed by the tenacious, bipartisan House Committee.
- It took an extra day or so, but the nearly 200 nations that gathered for the COP26 U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland over the past two weeks finally reached an agreement [PDF] that all parties could sign onto over the weekend. For the first time, this year’s agreement — while not nearly enough to take on the worsening threat of our climate emergency — finally calls for the “phase down” of coal and other fossil fuels. Incredibly, until this year, neither the words “coal” or “fossil fuels” have appeared in any of the previous 25 agreements signed by the parties over the years. And even “phase down” was a last minute change demanded by India and China from “phase out”. Desi Doyen explains that and much more, including the continuing problem of securing commitments from developed countries who caused the problem to cover the enormous costs of developing countries who didn’t, even as many of them are paying the greatest immediate and long term price for our climate catastrophe.
- Beto is in. Former Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke declares his intention to run for Governor next year against Texas’ far-right incumbent Republican Greg Abbott.
- Leahy is out. The 8-term Democratic U.S. Senator from Vermont, Patrick Leahy, currently the longest servicing member of the upper chamber, announces he will not seek a ninth term.
- The fate of Kyle Rittenhouse is now in the hands of the jury. The 17-year old counter-protester used a semi-automatic rifle to shoot three demonstrators, killing two of them, in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year after the police killing of George Floyd. Before handing the case to jurors, the judge — whose bizarre behavior throughout the televised trial suggested he’s in the bag for Rittenhouse — dropped a less significant charge of being a minor in possession of a firearm.
- Far-right propagandist and conspiracy theory profiteer Alex Jones and his Infowars media outlet were found guilty by default in the latest defamation case against him in Connecticut. The suit was brought by families of eight people killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Jones declared the massacre to be a “giant hoax” by the federal government. It’s the fourth Sandy Hook case in which Jones has been found guilty of defamation. The first three were in Texas, where Jones’ media empire is based. Juries in each state will decide how much Jones must pay in damage and court costs to the families next year.
- The biggest political news of the day was the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill finally signed into law on Monday by President Biden in a ceremony on the White House lawn. It is the latest component of his sweeping “Build Back Better” agenda following the devastation of COVID, Donald Trump and, in this case, decades of failure to invest in rebuilding and shoring up the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. We explain what’s in the landmark bill, including the largest single investment in roads and bridges since the Eisenhower era. There are also a number of key environment and climate related elements in the bill, for replacement of toxic lead water pipes, hardening and expansion of the nation’s power grid, investment in electric vehicle charging stations and zero- and low-emission public transit and consumer vehicles. The Administration vows the measure will create millions of jobs over the next five years. And while infrastructure has traditionally been one area on which both Republicans and Democrats tend to find common ground, the post-Trump Republican party has described the bill as a “communist takeover” of the country, and has turned on Republicans in both the House and Senate who voted for passage. That has resulted in death threats for a number of the GOPers in the House who voted for the bipartisan measure supported by such noted “communists” in the Senate as Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham.
- And yes, we take a few calls from listeners on all of the above throughout today’s program…
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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Wow! Pretty head on into a ship of qualmy seas!
I hear a lot of criticism of the Infrastructure Bill from Progressives/lefties
that the bill contains large giveaways to the corporate sector.
But I never hear any specifics.
I imagine it could mean privatized (formerly public) roads/bridges, local water departments, local broadband networks, etc etc.
A bunch of GOPers DID support the bill, and that suggests to me that there are indeed giveaways to corporate interests.
Where can I find specifics regarding the alleged “giveaways”?
(Sorry, I haven’t listened to the 11-15 Bradcast yet. So if that is one source, let me know).
Brad,
Re: BP Infrastructure Bill.
Actually, I did find this:
https://newrepublic.com/article/162815/bipartisan-infrastructure-bill-gift-wall-street-planets-expense?fbclid=IwAR01HRFfVFxHfe4ljLzovDxsd4ZBSuHa8xB46WkcQC_7XL-LwABNU5LTAqs
DonL –
Apologies for the slow reply! I have seen several different claims about the “corporate giveaways” in the Infrastructure Bill over the months that it’s been cooking, but don’t recall which ones I read over that period. (I’d check David Dayen at The Prospect, however.)
That said, all such bills tends to be corporate giveaways, of a sort, these days. Companies are hired for construction projects, for example. Is that a corporate giveaway or a jobs program?