{"id":13383,"date":"2020-04-17T18:47:17","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T01:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=13383"},"modified":"2020-04-17T22:04:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T05:04:25","slug":"death-cult-gop-bradcast-4172020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bbnewdb.webbyspice.com\/?p=13383","title":{"rendered":"Death Cult GOP: &#8216;BradCast&#8217; 4\/17\/2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/Images\/BradCast_GOPDeathCult_TrumpPunisher_041720.jpg\" hspace=\"6\" vspace=\"3\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\">We&#8217;ve been hearing a lot of references to the GOP as a &#8220;death cult&#8221; of late. And while it sounds, at first, like little more than a partisan smear by Democrats, it&#8217;s not. Just ask <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/views\/2020\/04\/17\/gop-has-become-death-cult\">this longtime Republican<\/a>. The description actually seems to be more and more apt with each passing day, as today&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><i>BradCast<\/i><\/a> helps to make all too clear. [<i>Audio link to full show is posted at end of this summary.<\/i>]\n<p>Among the many Death Cult GOP stories in evidence on today&#8217;s program&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In March, a woman and mother of two in Texas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/progressivesecularhumanist\/2020\/04\/texas-woman-who-claimed-covid-19-was-media-driven-hoax-dies-from-virus\/\">took to Facebook to offer a rant<\/a> on the global coronavirus pandemic as little more than a &#8220;media driven&#8221; hoax meant for &#8220;overthrowing Trump&#8221;. She warned readers to &#8220;Wake up!!! This is what the beginning of socialism looks like,&#8221; adding &#8220;You don&#8217;t need hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and Lysol. You need common sense, a sense of direction, faith, a will to fight, and of course guns!&#8221; She died from COVID-19 just a few weeks later in April.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>And just a few weeks after that, even as bodies continue to pile up in Texas, with it&#8217;s coronavirus peak predicted to be still two weeks away, the state&#8217;s Republican <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/04\/17\/politics\/texas-economy-reopen-testing-coronavirus\/index.html\">Gov. Greg Abbott announced<\/a> on a Friday his plan to open the state back up for business. Among his plans for doing so: state parks will be opened on Monday and large venues such as restaurants and movie theaters could be re-opened as early as April 27.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Abbott&#8217;s announcement follows a <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/news\/493287-reported-us-coronavirus-deaths-hits-record-one-day-total-of-more-than-4500\">record 4,591 American deaths<\/a> formally attributed to COVID-19 in a single 24 hour period, as the official death toll climbed above 33,000 as of Friday morning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Even as the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/a4ec3cc7888ff2d58b5618e9f890b9c6\">body count grows<\/a> and Trump has backed off his claim of &#8220;total authority&#8221; to order Governors to end stay-at-home orders just a day earlier, leaving the decision to Governors instead, the President of the United States <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2020\/04\/17\/trump-states-stay-at-home-orders-192386\">took to Twitter<\/a> to seemingly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/security\/trump-s-liberate-tweets-extremists-see-call-arms-n1186561\">call for violent overthrows<\/a> of three states with Democratic Governors. &#8220;LIBERATE MINNESOTA,&#8221; he tweeted. And later, &#8220;LIBERATE MICHIGAN&#8221;. Followed by &#8220;LIBERATE VIRGINIA,&#8221; adding &#8220;And save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Yes. It&#8217;s a death cult. But if you had any question about that, we review his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/climate-environment\/2020\/04\/16\/epa-overhauls-mercury-pollution-rule-despite-opposition-industry-activists-alike\/\">EPA&#8217;s latest rollback of environmental regulations<\/a>, including today&#8217;s which guts an Obama-era rule to curb the emissions of mercury and other toxins. It is just the latest rule overturned by the Trump Administration, following his recent <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/energy-environment\/490318-trump-administration-rolls-back-obama-era-fuel-efficiency-standards\">reversal of vehicle mileage standards<\/a> and the toxic emissions that would have been curbed with them and this week&#8217;s decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/14\/climate\/coronavirus-soot-clean-air-regulations.html\">ignore the EPA&#8217;s own scientists<\/a> calling for the tightening of National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate pollution (soot) which might help lessen some 50,000 deaths per year. Each of those regulations save tens of thousands of American lives annually. But they are now quickly being overturned one after the next to not only help a few of his corporate campaign contributors, but also to avoid the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Congressional_Review_Act\">Congressional Review Act<\/a> which allows Congress to reverse regulations passed in the final six months of a President&#8217;s term with a simple majority vote.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Not enough GOP Death Cultism for ya? Then we turn to elections once again, where Republicans continue to draw the battle-lines for 2020 with new efforts to force voters to choose between risking their lives to vote in person during a pandemic or losing their right to vote altogether. That, versus attempts by Democrats to make voting easier and safer for all. <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=13382\">Yesterday<\/a> we highlighted the fight in <b>Texas<\/b> where its Republican Attorney General has <a href=\"https:\/\/lawandcrime.com\/covid-19-pandemic\/texas-ag-threatens-voting-rights-groups-with-felony-charges-for-pushing-vote-by-mail\/\">threatened criminal prosecution<\/a> against those who advise voters to seek absentee ballots  for fear of the coronavirus. Today&#8217;s example comes out of <b>Kentucky<\/b>, where the GOP legislature has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/kentucky-legislature-overrides-veto-of-gop-voter-id-measure\/2020\/04\/15\/dc23fa7a-7f29-11ea-9040-68981f488eed_story.html\">voted to override the veto<\/a> of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in order to <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/news\/voter-id-kentucky-beshear-2020-elections\">force the enactment<\/a> of disenfranchising Photo ID voting restrictions this November. Good luck to Kentucky voters who lack an ID in getting one. All of the state&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/4\/15\/21222084\/kentucky-voter-id-coronavirus-pandemic\">driver&#8217;s license offices are closed across the state<\/a> due to the COVID crisis. Darn the luck, am I right GOPers? No worries, with Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell on the ballot this year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2020\/2\/24\/1921001\/-Daily-Kos-Elections-Live-Digest-2-24?t=1582563239649#update-1582563198000\">locked in a potentially close fight<\/a> with his likely challenger Amy McGrath, I&#8217;m sure everything will work out just fine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>And, yes, if all of this idiotic death and mayhem sounds like a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realsarahpolley\/status\/1248619302011297792?s=20\">terrible movie<\/a> that couldn&#8217;t get greenlighted in Hollywood, it&#8217;s because it is&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\".\/Images\/Speaker_Icon_24.png\" style=\"width: 24px; float: none; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px; line-height: 18px;\"> <b><i><a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/audio\/BradCast_BradFriedman-GOPDeathCult-EPARegsOverturned-KYPhotoID_041720.mp3\">CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!&#8230;<\/a><\/i><\/b><br \/>\n[audio:http:\/\/BradBlog.com\/audio\/BradCast_BradFriedman-GOPDeathCult-EPARegsOverturned-KYPhotoID_041720.mp3]<\/blockquote>\n<p><center><b>* * *<\/b><\/center><i>While we post <a href=\"https:\/\/BradBlog.com\/BradCast\"><\/i>The BradCast<i><\/a> here every day, and you can hear it across all of our great affiliate stations and websites, to automagically get new episodes as soon as they&#8217;re available sent right to your computer or personal device, subscribe for free at <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/id803467610\">iTunes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pandora.com\/podcast\/the-bradcast-w-brad-friedman\/PC:1000025838\">Pandora<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/radio\/The-BradCast-with-Brad-Friedman-p477565\/\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9icmFkYmxvZy5jb20vcG9kY2FzdGdlbi9icmFkY2FzdC9mZWVkLnhtbA\">Google<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-BradCast-w-Brad-Friedman\/dp\/B08JJRN86R\/ref=sr_1_1\">Amazon<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/podcastgen\/bradcast\/feed.xml\">our native RSS feed<\/a>!<\/i><center><i><b>* * *<\/b><\/i><\/center><center><\/p>\n<table cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tr style=\"background: blue; color:white;\">\n<td width=\"50%\"><center><span class=\"footnote\"><b>MONTHLY BRAD BLOG SUBSCRIPTION<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<td width=\"50%\"><center><span class=\"footnote\"><b>ONE-TIME DONATION<\/b><\/span><\/center><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid blue;\"><center><\/p>\n<form action=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/cgi-bin\/webscr\" method=\"post\" target=\"_top\" style=\"margin-top:-3em; margin-bottom:2em;text-align:center;\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"cmd\" value=\"_s-xclick\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"hosted_button_id\" value=\"9PMSTMCJK9B3E\"><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"on0\" value=\"Choose monthly amount...\">Choose monthly amount&#8230;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><select name=\"os0\"><option value=\"$10\">$10 : $10.00 USD &#8211; monthly<\/option><option value=\"$20\">$20 : $20.00 USD &#8211; monthly<\/option><option value=\"$50\">$50 : $50.00 USD &#8211; monthly<\/option><option value=\"$100\">$100 : $100.00 USD &#8211; monthly<\/option><\/select> <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"currency_code\" value=\"USD\"><input type=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.paypalobjects.com\/en_US\/i\/btn\/btn_subscribe_LG.gif\" border=\"0\" name=\"submit\" alt=\"PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.paypalobjects.com\/en_US\/i\/scr\/pixel.gif\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><\/form>\n<p><\/center><\/td>\n<td style=\"border: 1px solid blue;\"><center><\/p>\n<form action=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/cgi-bin\/webscr\" method=\"post\" target=\"_top\" style=\"margin-top:0em; margin-bottom:2em;text-align:center;\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"cmd\" value=\"_s-xclick\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"hosted_button_id\" value=\"K5A5LX7J6WTHQ\"><input type=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.paypalobjects.com\/en_US\/i\/btn\/btn_donateCC_LG.gif\" border=\"0\" name=\"submit\" alt=\"PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.paypalobjects.com\/en_US\/i\/scr\/pixel.gif\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"footnote\">(Snail mail support to <b>&#8220;Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028<\/b>&#8221; always welcome too!)<\/div>\n<p><\/center><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;ve been hearing a lot of references to the GOP as a &#8220;death cult&#8221; of late. And while it sounds, at first, like little more than a partisan smear by Democrats, it&#8217;s not. Just ask this longtime Republican. The description actually seems to be more and more apt with each passing day, as today&#8217;s BradCast [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1171,1193,1415,675,499,1456,479,969,451,650,477,497,1365],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amy-mcgrath","category-andrew-wheeler","category-andy-beshear","category-bradcast","category-coal","category-coronavirus","category-donald-trump","category-election-2020","category-epa","category-greg-abbott","category-kpfk","category-mitch-mcconnell","category-pollution"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbnewdb.webbyspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbnewdb.webbyspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbnewdb.webbyspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbnewdb.webbyspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbnewdb.webbyspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bbnewdb.webbyspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbnewdb.webbyspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbnewdb.webbyspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbnewdb.webbyspice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}