What would the US look like if liberals were allowed to enact all of their policies without opposition?

An interesting perspective taking account real US limitations:

https://www.quora.com/What-would-the-US-look-like-if-liberals-were-allowed-to-enact-all-of-their-policies-without-opposition-Are-there-any-existing-countries-like-that-to-help-us-judge-its-long-term-impact/answer/Martin-Levine-8?share=e1ac8e4f&srid=uBhZO

Twitter Rains Hell On Jeff Sessions’ New Religious Liberty Task Force

This is why we need Satanists. Not that anyone should believe in Satan, but because they are the perfect way to show the folly of political Christians who try to defend "religious freedom" (i.e., bigotry):

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/twitter-sessions-religious-liberty-task-force_us_5b5f92bae4b0b15aba9bfcff

Why Some Republicans are Rethinking Climate Change

Glad to see there is SOME sanity creeping into the GOP:

http://time.com/5348333/republicans-climate-change-carbon-tax/

Are there disturbing parallels between the US under Trump and Germany of the 1930s?

Fortunately, there are many significant differences:

https://www.quora.com/Are-there-disturbing-parallels-between-the-US-under-Trump-and-Germany-of-the-1930s/answer/John-Dewar-Gleissner?share=8122561b&srid=uBhZO

Mike Pence, Holy Terror

Mike Pence could be a LOT worse than Trump:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/opinion/sunday/mike-pence-holy-terror.html

Hannity reveals more hypocrisy

Hannity is SUCH a tool:

https://mobile.twitter.com/The_UnSilent_/status/1023329570567667712/video/1

Scientists Warn Trump’s Border Wall Would Be A Disaster For Wildlife

Another reason why the border wall is a bad idea:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-border-wall-wildlife-scientists-signature_us_5b59dc2be4b0de86f49469fa

Evidence Shows Hackers Changed Votes in the 2016 Election But No One Will Admit It

We may never have a smoking gun, but at the very least this calls into question the legitimacy of Trump winning the presidency:

https://www.theroot.com/evidence-shows-hackers-changed-votes-in-the-2016-electi-1827871206

Free Speech Is Failing Us in America

An imperfect article, but the message makes sense:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godzooks/2018/07/first-amendment-free-speech-discard/

Emails Show Michigan Republicans Scheming To Gerrymander ‘Garbage’ Dems

HOW is gerrymandering even remotely legal?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michigan-gop-gerrymandering-emails_us_5b5971dbe4b0de86f4935f05

The Endangered Species Act Is Criticized for Its Costs. But It Generates More than $1 Trillion a Year

Shortsightedness is expensive:

http://time.com/5347260/endangered-species-act-reform/

Court: Emoluments Clause Applies To Trump And His Hotel Profits

It's about damn time:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-emoluments-clause_us_5b58bbb5e4b0de86f492ca16

1935 novel predicts Trump

We are living in an old novel:

Here’s the psychological problem that causes Trump supporters to keep getting duped

We knew this, but now here's the actual evidence:

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/heres-psychological-problem-causes-trump-supporters-keep-getting-duped/amp/

Trump EPA Plans To Revoke California’s Smog-Fighting Power: Report

This is unacceptable. CA is the last, best bastion fighting climate change in the US during the Trump administration:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-epa-plans-to-revoke-californias-smog-fighting-power_us_5b5605ede4b0b15aba912e33

The world’s biggest farms pollute more than any oil company

Another major reason to go to manufactured or non-meat meat:

https://qz.com/1332254/the-worlds-biggest-farms-contribute-more-to-climate-change-than-any-oil-company/

Steve King Is A White Supremacist, And The GOP Doesn’t Care

I knew he was an asshole, but not a white supremacist:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-king-white-nationalist_us_5b3276f0e4b0b745f1784ebe

Donald Trump Is Not Homosexual, But He Is Definitely Homosocial

It helps explain Trump's misogyny:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-signorile-trump-homosocial_us_5b4d3407e4b0fd5c73be241a

The Thucydides trap: What America gets wrong about China

A different and interesting perspective on US-China rivalry:

https://bigthink.com/videos/david-kang-the-thucydides-trap-what-america-gets-wrong-about-china

Russiagate Is Far Wider Than Trump and His Inner Circle

Yikes:

https://www.thenation.com/article/russiagate-far-wider-trump-inner-circle/

How to Tell If You Are Running a Money Laundry

1. Despite your multiple bankruptcies, shady foreign investors with ties to the Russian mob happily bankroll your projects. 

2. Your investment portfolio consists largely of golf courses, a dying business so terrible Nike took a huge write-off to get out. 

3. Your golf courses report huge losses year after year, but you keep buying more of them. 

4. You sell hideous, overpriced apartments -- to foreigners. When asked about your customers, you brag to a real estate publication that "The Russian market is attracted to me."

5. Asked who bankrolls your projects without banks, your son blurts out "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. . . . We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."

6. You license your name to developers in money laundering capitals like Panama and they get caught ... money laundering.

7. The one bank that still does business with you paid a billion dollars in fines for ... money laundering. 

8. You buy a rundown estate in Florida for $40 million in 2004 and, without improvements, you sell it to a Russian oligarch for $95 million four years later, during the market crash.

Asked about election interference, President Trump talks about Clinton emails

If you watch the whole segment, it's clear that Trump's "would/wouldn't" explanation is contradicted by everything else he said:

https://www.facebook.com/ezraklein/videos/asked-about-election-interference-president/944375235750079/

Trump Wanted a Summit With Putin. He Got Way More Than He Bargained For

This is a good summary of all the blowback from the Helsinki summit:

http://time.com/5342747/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-summit-2/

I'm Bill Browder. Here's the Biggest Mistake Putin Made When Trying to Get Access to Me Through Trump

A little perspective:

http://time.com/5340545/bill-browder-vladimir-putin-magnitsky-act-donald-trump/

Can political party predict adultery?

I'm really not surprised by the results:

https://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/can-political-party-predict-adultery

A closer look at Trump's trade war with China

https://www.quora.com/Chinas-nominal-GDP-is-still-half-maybe-60-of-that-of-the-USAs-but-Trump-has-already-started-a-trade-war-against-China-Is-China-going-to-become-a-USSR-part-two-How-can-China-save-itself/answer/Jeremy-Brookins?share=b3512334&srid=uBhZO

The Most Incompetent Demagogue In History

Some interesting and useful perspectives here:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-kuttner-trump-putin_us_5b4c0159e4b0e7c958fc77a7

Republicans’ favorite FBI conspiracy theory goes up in smoke during Strzok hearing

If your intention is to sink the other side, you don't HELP them:

https://thinkprogress.org/peter-strzok-debunked-republicans-favorite-fbi-conspiracy-theory-before-his-hearing-even-started-c6504664d7c2/

Agent Strzok interrogation exposes the hypocrisy in the GOP

I'm surprised this hasn't gone more viral:

https://mobile.twitter.com/girlsreallyrule/status/1017543754910224385/video/1

Extinction is a natural process, but it’s happening at 1,000 times the normal speed

https://bigthink.com/the-conversation/extinction-is-a-natural-process-but-its-happening-at-1000-times-the-normal-speed

But of course, the Trump administration is putting its foot on the accelerator, like this:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/climate/trump-environment-rules-reversed.html

Democracy Isn't Perfect, But It Will Still Prevail

A longer-range look at why there's reason for hope, despite Trump:

http://time.com/5336615/democracy-will-prevail/

President Trump Says NATO Allies Owe the U.S. Money. He's Wrong

You'd think the president would know AT LEAST what any amateur student of politics would know:

http://time.com/5335111/donald-trump-nato-spending-facts/

Seth Abramson on Trump-Kennedy collusion

Well, I certainly wouldn't put it past this administration:

https://mobile.twitter.com/sethabramson/status/1016713769551089666?s=12

Trump Admin Favored Corporations In Opposing Breastfeeding Resolution: Report

I think this is on page 98 of the villainy playbook:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-administration-favored-corporations-over-babies-in-opposing-breastfeeding-resolution_us_5b42726ae4b07b827cc1e377

And while we're at it...

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/year-old-baby-appears-in-immigration-court_us_5b4290e3e4b07b827cc1e76c

"Judge John Richardson said he was “embarrassed to ask” if Johan understood the proceedings, AP reported. “I don’t know who you would explain it to, unless you think that a 1-year-old could learn immigration law,” he told Johan’s attorney."

No one really knows what ICE is supposed to be. Politicians love that

FYI, ICE is not tasked with protecting the borders:

https://qz.com/1316098/what-is-ice-supposed-to-do-the-strange-history-of-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement/

Tomi Lahren Warns It’d Be A ‘Big Mistake’ Overturning Roe v. Wade

My 2007 observation was that liberals/progressives win on social issues. Seems like conservative pundit Tomi Lahren has also made the same observation:

“We lose when we start tampering with social issues,” she said.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tomi-lahren-pro-roe-v-wade_us_5b42396ce4b07b827cc1cb65

EPA Sitting On Warnings About Cancer-Causing Chemical: Report

Some of Pruitt's legacy:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/epa-suppressing-formaldehyde-health-assessment_us_5b4189e1e4b05127ccf2dd3d

Former GOP Leader Bill Frist Calls On Republican Senate To Protect Mueller

More rebellion against Trump in the Republican ranks:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/former-gop-majority-leader-bill-frist-calls-on-republican-senate-to-protect-mueller_us_5b412d43e4b05127ccf2cb65

Trump Crammed A Remarkable Amount Of Misogyny Into Just 24 Hours

More examples of Trump's misogyny:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-aggressive-misogyny_us_5b3fbfcae4b05127ccf1e254

A group of Christians attended a pride parade to apologize for how they've treated the LGBT community

As a reminder from my 2007 video titled The Conservative Challenge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFM3LYsND50), the idea is that liberals/progressives keep losing the battles before winning the war. Gay marriage went from a whole bunch of laws prohibiting it to rapid legalization in many states, driven by the gradual but seemingly inevitable shift in society's values toward the more liberal position. And with it, even conservatives have come to adopt the liberal values. Now some are starting to apologize for their treatment of LGBTQ people:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/02/health/christians-apologize-at-pride-parade-trnd/index.html

Donald Trump Flirting With Fascism

More evidence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfl9LgJR3iA

Trump’s Impulsive Foreign Policy Moves Are Starting to Backfire. He’s Not Taking It Well.

Given all the evidence for Trump's incompetence, I can't decide whether his supporters are ignorant, stupid or evil:

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/trumps-impulsive-foreign-policy-moves-are-starting-to-backfire-hes-not-going-to-take-it-well.html

Fintan O’Toole: Trial runs for fascism are in full flow

Unfortunately, this is entirely, depressingly plausible:

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-trial-runs-for-fascism-are-in-full-flow-1.3543375

Scott Pruitt’s Replacement Is Even Worse

Out of the frying pan and into the fire?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scott-pruitt-andrew-wheeler-epa_us_5b3e906ae4b09e4a8b2b4e70

Conservative Columnist Max Boot: ‘I Want Democrats To Take Over’

I do love seeing these conversions:

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5b3d7b35e4b09e4a8b29d1cb

Trump pressed aides on Venezuela invasion, U.S. official says

You know he's itching to blow some shit up, right?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ap-trump-pressed-aides-on-venezuela-invasion-us-official-says/

One fascinating reason things never seem to get better

For my pessimistic associates:

https://bigthink.com/robby-berman/one-fascinating-reason-things-never-seem-to-get-better

Infographic comparing the most religious regions of the US to various societal metrics

For those who think that being a Christian fundamentalist makes you a better person:

Trump Has a Bill That Would Blow Up the WTO. It’s Called the U.S. FART Act.

Seriously:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/trumps-u-s-fart-act-would-pull-america-out-of-the-wto-united-states-fair-and-reciprocal-tariff-act.html

This government CAN'T be real. Did someone resurrect Alan Funt?

Trump Has Lied And Twisted Facts To Justify His Harsh Immigration Policies

Here are some good data to refer to against anyone who may try to use Trump's claims to justify his immigration policies:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-administration-lies-immigration-family-separations_us_5b3689cfe4b08c3a8f6a3b73

New Evidence That the World Really Is Getting Better

Since we could all use a reality check justifying optimism:

https://singularityhub.com/2018/07/01/new-evidence-that-the-world-really-is-getting-better/#sm.0001p9abvhotbf0jwc02kzluw8213

Puerto Rico introduces bill to become 51st U.S. state by 2021

This would be a nice way to get two more Democrats in the Senate...assuming Puerto Ricans are still pissed at Trump's negligent response to their hurricane disaster:

https://bigthink.com/stephen-johnson/puerto-rico-could-become-51st-us-state-under-new-proposal