POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “Democratic Establishment Confused by Bernie Sanders’ Endgame” / The Humanist Report / Mike Figueredo ☮

Many members of the Democratic establishment are perplexed by Bernie Sanders’ endgame. They’re curious as to why he hasn’t dropped out and endorsed Hillary Clinton yet.

CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION COMPLEX: “The American Christian Victim Complex” / Secular Talk / Kyle Kulinski ☮

Many, many Christians believe they are subject to religious discrimination in the United States. A new report from the Public Religion Research Institute and Brookings offers evidence: Almost half of Americans say discrimination against Christians is as big of a problem as discrimination against other groups, including blacks and minorities. Three-quarters of Republicans and Trump supporters said this, and so did nearly eight out of 10 white evangelical Protestants. Of the latter group, six in 10 believe that although America once was a Christian nation, it is no longer—a huge jump from 2012.

POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “GOP Wants FBI Director Comey to Testify Over Clinton E-mail Probe” / RT America / Ed Schultz ☮

The Justice Department’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s storage of classified emails on a private server is closed and no criminal charges will brought against the former Secretary of State. The House GOP has asked FBI director James Comey to testify before congress tomorrow. Republicans are also trying to reconcile Clinton’s statements throughout the investigation that she did not email any classified materials with Comey’s statements that 110 emails contained classified information.

RIGHT-WING AUTHORITATIVE NATIONALISM: “Illinois Man Arrested for Burning American Flag” / Secular Talk / Kyle Kulinski ☮

An Illinois-based man was arrested after he set the US flag on fire and posted photos on the social networking site Facebook, a media report said on Tuesday.

Bryton Mellott, 22, posted several photos on Facebook earlier this week, showing him with a burning flag. He also posted a statement why he is “not proud” to be an American, Fox59.com report

EXCECUTION BY COP: “Another Day, Another Black Man Murdered by Cop” / Thom Hartmann ☮

Thom speaks with Benjamin Dixon, host of the Benjamin Dixon Show, about the latest police shooting of an African-American man, North Carolina’s new ‘Blue Lives Matter’ law, and the court of public opinion.

BRITISH POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “The Iraq War, the Chilcot Inquiry and Tony Blair” / Owen Jones ☮

The Iraq Inquiry, led by Sir John Chilcot, could hardly have been more critical of Tony Blair and the New Labour government, which led us into that calamity. Many feared it would be a whitewash but in the end, it pulled no punches. From the intelligence dossier that led to Tony Blair claiming Saddam Hussein could launch WMDs within 45 minutes to the claims that the UK and US had exhausted their diplomatic options, Chilcot eviscerated those in charge. But, of course, to those of us who marched against the war, much of what the Chilcot Inquiry told us, we already knew.

SCIENCE – ASTRONOMY: “Welcome to Jupiter!” / The Big Picture RT / Thom Hartmann ☮

Dr. Leroy Chiao PhD, Former NASA Astronaut & International Space Station Commander joins Thom. Earlier today – at 3:18 Greenwich Mean Time – NASAs “Juno” spacecraft successfully reached Jupiter and entered the gas giants orbit. Scott Bolton – principle investigator for the Juno mission described his relief when orbit was achieved – telling The Guardian that “There’s a mixture of tension and anxiety because this is such a critical manoeuvre … The rocket motor has to burn at the right time, in the right direction, for just the right amount of time.” It took the spaceship 5 years to make the 1.8 billion mile trip from Earth to Jupiter and The Juno probe is equipped with 29 sensors and 9 instruments that will study the planet for the next 20 months. The probe will be making a map of the planet before its instruments finally fail and the probe falls to Jupiter’s surface.