'BradCast' 8/19/2019 (Guest: Jeanne Devon of the Alaska Democratic Party)
On today's 'BradCast':\xa0 A new petition to rename part of New York City's 5th Avenue in front of Trump Tower after President Barack Obama has gained nearly half a million signatures. A brilliant idea, and unlikely \u2013 but more important petition efforts with actual legal standing are gaining ground in several states, with potentially far-reaching consequences. In Georgia, voters have succeeded in gathering enough petition signatures to demand the state re-examine its new, recently certified, 100% unverifiable touchscreen ballot marking device (BMD) voting system \u2013 just days after a federal judge found the state's current system to be "unsecure, unreliable, grossly outdated...seriously flawed and vulnerable to failure, breach, contamination and attack." In Alaska, a broad, multi-partisan coalition has gathered more than enough signatures to begin the process of recalling newly-elected Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy for his attempt to implement devastating, radical cuts to the state's budget \u2013 a petition brought by a coal baron and the last remaining signer of Alaska's Constitution, among others.\xa0 JEANNE DEVON, formerly known as "AKMuckraker" of the great Alaska blog The MudFlats, now serving as Communications Director for the state Democratic Party, breaks down the details of the political tremors now underway in Alaska, from the recall petition to the Trump EPA's recent moves to push through the controversial proposed Pebble Mine project. According to EPA scientists, environmentalists and tribal nations, the enormous gold and copper Pebble Mine will cause "irreversible loss of fish habitat" in the world's largest sockeye salmon habitat in the pristine Bristol Bay watershed. It also endangers the livelihood of some 20,000 in the fishing industry. It's a must-listen conversation on the entire mess now consuming the great state of Alaska, and how it might also affect the 2020 Presidential election...