'BradCast' 9/1/2020 (Democracy, Disinformation, Dirty Tricks)
On today's 'BradCast':\xa0 Facebook announced today that they have shut down several fake accounts created to support a Russia-related propaganda scheme targeting the Left, that seeks to suppress voter turnout in the 2020 election and undermine Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The effort closely mirrors the (perhaps irreversible) decades-long effort by the Right to brainwash its own followers. With just two months until Election Day, Donald Trump's recently-appointed Director of National Intelligence will no longer provide in-person briefings to Congress on foreign interference in the election, with new evidence suggesting the directive came from Trump himself. Election 'dirty tricks' are already underway in the swing state of Michigan, where a mysterious new robocall received by some Democratic-leaning voters is spreading disinformation and fear about vote by mail, falsely claiming that voting absentee will send voters' contact information to law enforcement, credit card debt collectors, and others for 'mandatory vaccines.'\xa0 None of that is true. A judge in MI has upheld the legality and authority of Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) to send applications for absentee ballots to all of the state's voters, rejecting a lawsuit filed by Republicans. While Trump and Republicans have launched lawsuits in key battleground states like Pennsylvania to make voting more difficult during the global pandemic that Trump failed to control, Colorado's Sec. of State Jena Griswold (D) announced she will dramatically expand the number of secure drop-boxes. Plus some bizarre listener mail, and Desi Doyen with our latest 'Green News Report.'