In these politically polarized times, many anxious Americans are losing sleep, obsessing over news, bickering with friends and raging on social media, according to therapists interviewed across the country. Some experts have even given the unofficial malady a name: Trump Anxiety Disorder. .... https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-anxiety-disorder-mental-health-political-divide-us-1.4762487
The most devastating form of surface mining—which literally involves blowing the tops off mountains to get at narrow seams of coal—has inflicted astounding damage to the Appalachian landscape and communities near these mines. .... https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1784009
The Donald J. Trump "regime" is on track to gut the Endangered Species Act, a law that has been keeping plants and animals from going extinct for 45 years. You know, the law that saved the bald eagle. Trump and Congressional Republicans want to make it easier to do business and make money, who cares about extinction? .... https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1783584
Homeopathy is fake medicine. It doesn’t treat or cure anything. It’s based on junk science. But retailers and pharmacies will sell it to you anyway.....
Today’s Rapid Response Friday breaks down all of a busy week’s developments in the Trump Administration’s trip up Yodel Mountain, including the surprising revelation that Michael Cohen has audio tapes of his conversations with Donald Trump. What does it all mean? Listen and find out!
We begin, however, with a challenging listener question regarding legal ethics and summer associates that hearkens back to our last episode.
The main segment tackles an entire week’s worth of yodeling, including the Cohen tapes, the emoluments lawsuit, and the Manafort trial. Phew!
After that, we check in with our buddy Andrew Seidel from the FFRF about a recent victory in the 9th Circuit regarding prayers at public school board meetings.
Finally, we end with an all new Thomas Takes The Bar Exam #86 involving the questionable sale of a used car. If you’d like to play along, just retweet our episode on Twitter or share it on Facebook along with your guess and the #TTTBE hashtag. We’ll release the answer on next Tuesday’s episode along with our favorite entry!
Interview: https://openargs.com/oa195-lordy-there-are-tapes/
For many years now, researchers have attempted to identify the extent to which racial bias shows up in public education. Studies have spanned a range of topics—from examining school discipline practices to the development of culturally responsive curricula and the ways in which students of color are placed (or not) in advanced academic courses. .... https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1783166
Infuriating: Emails released in an ongoing federal lawsuit have confirmed that Michigan Republicans giddily engaged in naked gerrymandering when they redrew election districts after the 2010 census. One Republican staffer bragged about being able to "cram ALL of the Dem garbage" in populous southeastern Michigan into only four congressional districts. .... https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1783416
Almost as soon as President Trump took office, he began rolling back health care rules that had angered religious groups for much of the last decade. First, Trump signed an executive order declaring that his administration would protect religious freedom. Then, his administration ruled that health insurance plans offered by large employers don’t have to cover contraception for employees, an about-face from a contentious Obama policy.....
At the ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools Pesach Eisen attended in Brooklyn, most of the day was spent studying religious texts with classes taught in Yiddish. One class at the end of the day was spent on secular subjects, including English and math, enough to be “able to go to the food stamps office and apply.”....
Political analyst Norman Ornstein has been talking about dysfunction in Washington for decades.
Since arriving in the Capitol in the mid-70s, he has had a front-row seat to the workings of Congress and the presidency both as a scholar and journalist.
In 2012, he wrote a book called “It’s Even Worse than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism.” But now, he says, the depth of dysfunction has reached levels he could not have imagined.
When we think about presidential judicial appointments, it might seem like all the space is taken up by nine seats — the ones on the Supreme Court.
But there are hundreds of other powerful vacancies that exist around the country in federal courts. Appeals courts hear, and make decisions on, an estimated 60,000 cases a year. The Supreme Court hears only 80.
And their political importance can’t be overstated.
As Charlie Savage writes in The New York Times, “Exit polls showed that court-focused voters helped deliver the president’s narrow victory.”
President Trump’s legacy will include having more than 40 of his nominations to federal circuit and appeals courts confirmed and many conservatives say it’s his most significant achievement to date.
We’ll unpack what federal circuit and appeals courts do, what it could mean if more of the nation’s courts lean conservative, the reputations of particular courts around the country, and how the judiciary is a big motivating factor for voters.
Interview: https://the1a.org/shows/2018-07-24/federal-courts-a-divided-senate-and-trump
Two part show today! First, Tommy talks with Ambassador Michael McFaul about Vladimir Putin’s request to interrogate him and Trump’s shocking refusal to immediately rule it out. Then Tommy talks with the Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian about Trump’s late-night rage tweet at Iran and the future of US/Iranian relations.
Interview: https://crooked.com/podcast/wanted-by-putin-and-rage-tweeting-at-iran/
Hilde Hall, a transgender woman, is the latest person to speak out after a pharmacist refused to fill a prescription a doctor had already prescribed....
If documentary films like “Killing Gaza” appeared regularly on American television, public opinion would start turning against Israel overnight. The film, just released by Dan Cohen and Max Blumenthal, is inspiring and sickening. It is being screened at special showings, but has not yet been released to theaters. Fortunately, you can download it here....
WHEN THEN-PRESIDENT Bill Clinton lied in 1998 about an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, Christian extremist James Dobson declared it was “foolish to believe that a person who lacks honesty and moral integrity is qualified to lead a nation and the world!” Under Clinton, Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, warned that America was facing “a profound moral crisis.”...
Earlier this month, during the Libertarian Party’s national convention, a Secular Caucus was formed, led by New Hampshire State Rep. Brandon Phinney — one of only a handful of openly non-theistic state officials in the country.....
"The Bible says, 'If you do this to the least of these, you do it to me,' " Sheila said, quoting Jesus. "But the least of these are Americans, not the ones crossing the border."...
A woman cries loudly at Kenny's funeral and Larry gets annoyed. He also becomes alarmed when he sees a 'suspicious' looking man.... https://youtu.be/JMtYsXSH9kM
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Check out this new pastor about to meet his new congregation. Please watch the video and be sure to share with everyone you know. It is about humility and compassion. Praise the Lord! https://youtu.be/oGt8Lnhgrz8
A neural scientist discusses findings about innate morality even in infants, free will, and the ways in which "moral behavior" depends upon mental health.
https://youtu.be/7-UCFRN4bjs
Seth takes a closer look at President Trump’s mounting legal and political troubles, his escalating war on the press and his lies to supporters about his economic agenda.... https://youtu.be/urMsr55b25Y
Let me be absolutely clear: If Roe V. Wade is overturned it will have an immediate impact on millions of women’s lives around the country. States are already trying to come as close to banning abortion as they possibly can....
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker reportedly used colorful cue cards to explain issues of global-trade policy to President Donald Trump during their meeting earlier this week.....
Farmers are feeling the effects of Trump's escalating trade war, so the president on Tuesday announced a $12 billion bailout to alleviate the pain. After railing against the tariffs, many Republicans are now criticizing the bailouts. But they're still not taking any meaningful action against Trump.....
CNN's 'The Lead' host and 'The Hellfire Club' author Jake Tapper says his mind is blown that American politicians are moving to obstruct an investigation into Russia.....
President Donald Trump on Friday seized on a strong GDP growth rate for the second quarter of the year to tout the economic gains made during his presidency and argued the US is experiencing an economic boom. .... https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/27/politics/trump-economy/index.html
LGBT people were already more likely to experience physical and mental health problems and less likely to be insured than straight and cisgender counterparts before Donald Trump became president.
.... https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1783101
There are many, many ways to attack a country that don’t involve dropping a single bomb or firing a single bullet. Look around at the political chaos Russia is seeding in the United States at this very moment, having successfully hacked into the Democratic National Committee servers and releasing the information through Wikileaks, using propaganda and social media to deepen social divides on wedge issues like gay marriage and racial equity. All of this paved a path to victory for a president who weakens us every single day he’s in office, degrading our relationships with our most trusted allies and shaking the western alliance to the core..... https://www.dailykos.com/story/2018/7/24/1783065/-America-is-under-attack-Feds-say-Russia-successfully-hacked-into-the-U-S-electrical-grid
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