As the number of water protectors continues to burgeon on the banks of the Cannonball River in protest of the…
From: Affinity
Over the last several days, I've seen a lot of excitement about a particular result of the SETI search. Scientists…
From: Pharyngula
I've always given the side-eye to proponents of Brain Sex theory ("neurosexism"), the idea that brains can not only be…
From: Against the Grain
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From: Affinity
The protests at Standing Rock. Ruth Hopkins has a good column about watching the feds, and why they are so…
From: Affinity
There are two interacting factors I expect of a good scientific explanation. One is empirical evidence, obviously -- everyone knows…
From: Pharyngula
[caption id="attachment_31884" align="aligncenter" width="454"] Strange Animals[/caption]
From: Pharyngula
Here's a formula for seeming wise: take two complex, deep topics that are individually the domain of specialists, and that…
From: Pharyngula
[caption id="attachment_6253" align="aligncenter" width="600"] © Marty Two Bulls.[/caption] Still Here. Still Standing. Support Sacred Stone Camp. Legal Fund Help. Support…
From: Affinity
While I am terrible at remembering names, I thought that I was pretty good at remembering faces. The main evidence…
From: Mano Singham
I had earlier written about Bezwada Wilson , recipient of this year's Magsaysay award. Another Indian was also a recipient…
From: Nastik Deliberations
[caption id="attachment_6399" align="alignnone" width="800"] Student activist protests hateful environment in schools (Screen capture).[/caption] An ad from progressive group Move On…
From: Affinity
[caption id="attachment_6396" align="alignright" width="300"] Stephen Bannon.[/caption] If you're like me, you went "who?" Yet another nasty group of people, who…
From: Affinity
[caption id="attachment_6369" align="alignnone" width="960"] Jennifer Dorner posted this image after dropping her kids off on the first day of school…
From: Affinity
[caption id="attachment_6366" align="alignright" width="300"] Former Missouri GOP head Ed Martin with Phyllis Schlafly (Facebook.com).[/caption] Holy moly, the bigotry just keeps…
From: Affinity
As the number of water protectors continues to burgeon on the banks of the Cannonball River in protest of the…
From: Affinity
[caption id="attachment_6358" align="alignnone" width="800"] Colin Kaepernick.[/caption] Finally, people have spoken up for Colin Kaepernick's sit down in an attempt to…
From: Affinity
[caption id="attachment_6195" align="alignnone" width="800"] CREDIT: AP/MICHAEL DYWER.[/caption] You didn't think I was serious, did you? Okay, well LePage sorta kinda…
From: Affinity
For a few months, especially around the time when a Muslim terrorist attacked and murdered almost 50 people in an…
From: Anjuli Pandavar
A group of teenagers, all 15-16 years old, attacked and killed a stranger of foreign origin just because he came…
From: Nastik Deliberations
Readers may have heard that Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, was one of those people whose homes…
From: Mano Singham
[caption id="attachment_6347" align="alignnone" width="800"] Donald Trump and Wayne Allen Root (YouTube/screen grab).[/caption] Wayne Allyn Root, a Donald Trump admirer who…
From: Affinity
For a few months, especially around the time when a Muslim terrorist attacked and murdered almost 50 people in an…
From: Anjuli Pandavar
He'll just babble the secret out everywhere and ruin it. He has revealed that the Anti-Christ will make himself known…
From: Pharyngula
Two Baptist schools which are financed by public money have decided they are not going to draft a Queer-inclusive policy for…
From: Against the Grain
[caption id="attachment_6208" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Image Credit: Lance Wallnau: God is raising up Trump as a Cyrus to destroy political correctness.[/caption]…
From: Affinity
[caption id="attachment_6192" align="alignnone" width="620"] Trey Gowdy. Mark Wilson/Getty Images.[/caption] Hillary Clinton’s legal team took such painstaking efforts to delete the…
From: Affinity
Incredible India is the tag line used so often by many agencies to promote tourist attraction to India. If there…
From: Nastik Deliberations
I take tremendous pride in my half-assed, poorly executed, semi-regular attempts to extract $82 billion worth of benefits per year…
From: Death to Squirrels
Nobody had any doubt that #burkiniban was a violation of Liberty enshrined in the French Constitution, except for some far…
From: Nastik Deliberations
A lightning bolt hit the local landfill, and now our garbage is on fire. No, literally. I guess Thor is…
From: Against the Grain
I am not a big fan of sweets (I have never been able to get used to the word 'candy'…
From: Mano Singham
Times Higher Education has another of those tedious articles in which some learned academic harumphs that you should not use…
From: Pharyngula
I did not watch much of the Olympics though I did catch some glimpses of some of the sprint events…
From: Mano Singham
When you're pulling thread out of skein, and pull this out, you know it's going to be a bad thread…
From: Affinity
As some readers may know, recently FreethoughtBlogs called for people who were interested in blogging for the site to apply.…
From: Mano Singham
Do not under any circumstances read The Lego Grad Student. It's like a comic photo-essay based on a Russian novel:…
From: Pharyngula
A lightning bolt in Norway killed 300 reindeer, which will no doubt result in a labour shortage this upcoming Christmas…
From: Against the Grain
My lovely little PowerMac Pro is having conniptions -- I suspect a bad connection to the display, because intermittently the…
From: Pharyngula
Jack Horner, the paleontologist who was the model for Dr Alan Grant in the Jurassic Park, has been 'forced out'…
From: Pharyngula
James Croft is looking for assistance to cope with his own life choices. He chose to be a humanist. He…
From: Pharyngula
For a few months, especially around the time when a Muslim terrorist attacked and murdered almost 50 people in an…
From: Anjuli Pandavar
When does authoritarianism shift to totalitarianism? Politically, authoritarianism is a system in which the state asserts its supreme power over…
From: Stderr
Negligent, ambitious, and perverse princes are the real causes of public adversities, of useless and unjust wars continually [caption id="attachment_13"…
From: Stderr
Someone in the Bible belt is going to open up their Sunday paper to read Peanuts or Blondie or BC…
From: Pharyngula
If you're at all interested in the latest kerfuffle in the atheosphere, you might want to tune in to Atheist…
From: Pharyngula
One of Islam's many, seemingly unkillable, myths is that there are no middlemen in Islam. Your relationship is directly with…
From: Anjuli Pandavar
Last month, I said I didn't care for most atheist models of identity. For example, I hate the "weak"/"strong" atheist…
From: A Trivial Knot
My guest for today is street epistemologist Anthony Magnabosco. For the past couple of years, he’s been making YouTube videos…
From: Bi Any Means
You've probably heard by now that a number of beaches in France have banned the burkini. Far from a rational…
From: Against the Grain
[caption id="attachment_6399" align="alignnone" width="800"] Student activist protests hateful environment in schools (Screen capture).[/caption] An ad from progressive group Move On…
From: Affinity
Why you gotta? “Stereotypical feminine behavior and attitudes are more in parallel with taking care of the environment,” Wilkie…
From: Death to Squirrels
The first words that caught my eye were the words "University of Minnesota student". The second words were "pleads guilty…
From: Pharyngula
[caption id="attachment_31915" align="alignright" width="150"] Kendra Wells[/caption] Who knew? That stupid article about how to interrupt a woman wearing headphones has…
From: Pharyngula
"Hijab is a choice". We hear this claim from Muslims whenever freethinkers and feminists question the coercion in Islam with…
From: Nastik Deliberations
[caption id="attachment_6347" align="alignnone" width="800"] Donald Trump and Wayne Allen Root (YouTube/screen grab).[/caption] Wayne Allyn Root, a Donald Trump admirer who…
From: Affinity
I've always given the side-eye to proponents of Brain Sex theory ("neurosexism"), the idea that brains can not only be…
From: Against the Grain
Can you stand one more story of men behaving badly today? I promise to stop after this one, but it's…
From: Pharyngula
Dan Bacon is oblivious. He's written this longish article explaining how to get a woman to stop what she is…
From: Pharyngula
Miri (Brute Reason formerly of FTB) over on The Orbit wrote a piece that has nothing to do with me…
From: Against the Grain
Octopus, by Sipho Mabona. It's about 2 inches in diameter. This model is a foray into "one-piece" origami. Or at…
From: A Trivial Knot
I had earlier written about Bezwada Wilson , recipient of this year's Magsaysay award. Another Indian was also a recipient…
From: Nastik Deliberations
I am glad that the commentariat has moved past the "dead porcupine" stage. [caption id="attachment_1158" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] A young adult…
From: Stderr
I tend not to pay much attention to Sarah Palin anymore. Her shtick has worn so thin that it is…
From: Mano Singham
Jean-Baptiste Frederic Isidore Thielemans, more widely known as 'Toots', died last week. The Belgian-born musician played and popularized the jazz…
From: Mano Singham
This was a very steady week for comics, as DC Comics continues to roll out their Rebirth-branded books and Marvel’s…
From: Affinity
Gene Wilder was a funny, funny actor, someone who could evoke laughs with seemingly little effort, combining to great effect…
From: Mano Singham
We were sitting around in my kitchen, after I had just helped her make her first batch of soap. The…
From: Stderr
This right here is literally why I play guitar. Jimmy Page playing his guitar with a violin bow. I don't know…
A wonderful slate of new LGBT movies and TV shows is up at The Advocate: The Intervention In theaters now…
From: Affinity
[caption id="attachment_6396" align="alignright" width="300"] Stephen Bannon.[/caption] If you're like me, you went "who?" Yet another nasty group of people, who…
From: Affinity
The emergency appeal by North Carolina's governor to the US Supreme Court to reinstate the restrictive voting rights ID law…
From: Mano Singham
Readers may have heard that Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, was one of those people whose homes…
From: Mano Singham
Needless to say that I was startled to read in the news that Donald Trump would be going to Mexico…
From: Mano Singham
On the subject of totalitarian impulses in today's US, I am moved by the whole Gabby Douglas kerfuffle. As a…
From: Stderr
Here's another holdover from the founding fathers: not only do we have a constitutional amendment based on 18th century concepts…
From: Pharyngula
Do you find yourself deeply annoyed by those headlines on Facebook and social media sites that declare that this politician…
From: Pharyngula
Two Baptist schools which are financed by public money have decided they are not going to draft a Queer-inclusive policy for…
From: Against the Grain
[caption id="attachment_6310" align="alignnone" width="800"] CNN's Carol Costello speaks to Angela Rye and Thomas Rodgers (screen grab).[/caption] Apostle Thomas Rodgers, Sr.…
From: Affinity
Discussions of the value of trade agreements have been quite prominent in the current election campaign. Supporters of the neoliberal…
From: Mano Singham