On today’s BradCast: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein would be weeping in their graves — but they’re still alive and joining many of us in calling out WaPo‘s cowardly billionaire owner today for kowtowing to a wannabe dictator who’s not even in office yet. Thus is the shameful price — and cost to American democracy and Freedom of the Press — of American Oligarchy, 2024-style. [Audio link to full show follows below.]
Among our stories today, before opening up our phone lines for listeners to “endorse” the Presidential candidate of their choosing, just one week before Election Day in arguably one of the most critical elections in U.S. history…
- Last week, more than 20 absentee ballots were burned in an apparent case of arson inside of a U.S. Postal Service collection box in Phoenix, in the battleground state of Arizona. Today, hundreds of ballots were burned in a ballot drop-box in Democratic-leaning Vancouver, Washington as well as Democratic-leaning Portland, Oregon. The FBI is investigating and local law enforcement report they have identified a “suspect vehicle” thought to be connected to the incendiary devices used in both cases in the early A.M. hours on Monday.
- Last week, Donald Trump-supporting billionaire Elon Musk, the richest many on Earth, kicked off a “lottery” where registered voters in battleground states who sign his pledge would become eligible for a one million dollar give-away each day before next Tuesday’s Election Day. The DoJ subsequently warned Musk that the stunt was likely an unlawful vote-buying scheme under federal law. On Monday, the Philadelphia District Attorney sued Musk for running what he is describing as an unlawful lottery in violation of Pennsylvania law.
- On Friday, the Washington Post — with the now-laughable tagline “Democracy Dies in Darkness” — announced it would not be making an endorsement in the Presidential race for the first time in nearly 50 years. It’s billionaire owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — whose space travel company has billions of dollars of contracts with the federal government — was reportedly behind the decision that undercut the legendary Watergate paper’s own Editorial Board that was set to endorse Kamala Harris. The decision came just after the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times — who happens to be a close friend of Elon Musk — forced that paper to do the same. It is what noted U.S. fascism expert Timothy Snyder describes in his landmark 2017 book, On Tyranny, as “obeying in advance,” which he strongly warns against as “Lesson One” when fascists threaten to take power. Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer also has a few thoughts in response about the “billionaire cowards” at the two papers who are already “showing what life under a dictator is really like”, even before Donald Trump‘s becomes President again (if he ever does.)
- With all of that in mind — and a few more stories of note here or there — we open up our phones for listeners to make their own endorsements today on air in this year’s election. That, because The BradCast and our many affiliate stations — many associated with the Pacifica Radio Network, founded in 1946 to, specifically, stand up against then-rising fascism — are not owned, run or controlled in any way by billionaires or their corporations. The result: a lot of calls today, with endorsements for Harris, Trump and — because our live-listener base largely draws from KPFK, our very left-ish flagship station here in Los Angeles — for the Green Party’s Jill Stein, as a protest vote against the Biden-Harris Administration’s position on Israel. (Never mind how much worse a Trump Administration would be on the same issue…which leads to a few very lively conversations with listeners today!) Please tune in!…
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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The scientific realm can go the way of the political realm if we don’t challenge it when it drifts (Contra Scientists Gong, Mathieu, and Hilmar).