Serious Inquiries Only

Joining me today is physician and president of Long Island Atheists, Dr. Richard Schloss! We talk about his background, the secular group he leads, and then go on to talk about healthcare policy in the US. Dr. Schloss takes us through some history on healthcare and answers basics like what are the differences between Medicare for All and Single Payer, etc. Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746,...

First I've got some monologuing to do on John McCain and speaking ill of the dead, and Louis CK apparently deciding he can just come back now. After recording this, I saw a great article by Roxane Gay that says a lot of what I said but also more and better, so check this out as well . After that, it's listener voicemail time! Got a lot of passionate reaction to my dire political predictions about...

Zerin Firoze set me up with this interview with Ryan Witmer, an immigration attorney who has worked on asylum claims, and all kinds of other immigration cases. He joins us to give an insider's perspective on US immigration policy, the law, asylum system, and where we're really shooting ourselves in the foot. Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746, remember short and to the point! Support the sho...

Today's episode starts off with a bit of monologuing. I heard what I think are some bad arguments around the recent election results, so I wanted to put some thoughts out there. After that, I have a brief interview with Steve Hill ! Steve will be the emcee of California Freethought Day this year. He is a comedian, atheist, satanist, activist, and more! We talk about his background, his run for the...

Dr. Elizabeth Picciuto wrote an article on Trump's ethics and how his ethical code centers around basically one value: loyalty to him. We discuss the article, different ethical systems, and the limits and drawbacks of loyalty as a virtue. After that, we talk about a tweet of hers which went massively viral. In it, she lamented that the state of our politics has a lot to do with the decline in the...

I've been researching recent US political and election history, and I had some realizations that made me incredibly depressed about the future. I'm making predictions about 2018, 2020, and 2022 that you can hold me to. I really hope I'll be wrong. After that I've got some fantastic listener email and voicemail! Topics include being sad about #metoo, being hopeful about #metoo, how to reconcile goo...

Last week's episode featured what I thought was a rational and philosophically consistent approach that educated, but non-expert, skeptics took toward a peer-reviewed article in a top journal making claims of evidence for ESP related phenomena. In today's episode though, we get a chance to hear from an expert in the field of Experimental Psychology who took an in-depth look at some of the studies...

A new meta-study  was recently published in the American Psychologist, the major journal of the American Psychological Association, which shows statistically significant results regarding ESP-like stuff. While this seems completely fantastical and against everything materialists like me tend to believe in, it has passed peer review in a major journal. So what are skeptics like us to make of this?...

On the show this week is another incredible person with a compelling story to tell. Zerin Firoze is an ex-Muslim atheist, currently residing in the US, but on a student Visa which may not last for much longer. She has applied for asylum but given the horrendous nature of our asylum process, she hasn't yet gotten a meeting or anything. Being an atheist in her home country has literally meant abuse...

I'm so pleased to bring you an interview with Callie Wright, co-host (along with Ari Stillman!) of the Gaytheist Manifesto ! Callie speaks about social justice issues with clarity and humanity and is incredible at bringing understanding and learning to those who might not otherwise find it. In that spirit, she's here to take on the recent controversy over Scarlett Johansson playing a transgender r...

First up in this episode are some factual corrections I need to make regarding episode 145, as well as an apology to Aimee for neglecting to honor a request she made. After that, it's a rousing edition of SIO voicemail! We talk socialism, putting the liberal agenda into pithy catchphrases, mandatory voting, and a whole lot about metoo! Lots of discussion on BDSM and the fact that the Canadian Supr...

It's part 2 with Aimee Terese! Aimee offers what she views as legitimate leftist critique of the #metoo moment. She also shares her own story. We have what I hope is a healthy, but rigorous debate about areas where the movement has gone too far, and affirmative consent vs. the previous paradigm. I'm very curious to get feedback on this one! Next episode will be voicemail, so that makes it an extra...

My guest this week is Aimee Terese, co-host of the Dead Pundits podcast. She is a self-described socialist, which allows us to shift the SI - Overton Window a bit to the left, for once. We talk about what socialism means to her, how liberals and socialists can and should work together, and more! Aimee has a background in philosophy and is currently studying law with an emphasis on critical legal t...

By popular request, I'm joined by Kevin, who goes by The One Janitor or T1J on YouTube, recently put out a brilliant critique of Sam Harris. I found it to be keenly critical while still being fair. We talk about that, YouTube in general, and delve into his political views as well. Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746, remember short and to the point! Support the show at seriouspod.com/support...

It's a coven of Andrews! We had so much to talk about regarding the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision handed down by the Supreme Court recently, that we had to do some overflow from Opening Arguments! These two expert Andrews are here to break it down for us, including how many different ways Dave Rubin is wrong about this. (It's a lot). Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746, remember short and to...

Am I kidding? I don't know, maybe I am, maybe I'm not. You'll have to listen and find out! With news that Bernie is running in 2020, I've got some reaction to the reaction, beginning with a sort of analogy or allegory for 2016 you might find interesting. After that, it's a long overdue voicemail segment! I plan on doing these at the end of each month, so call in! Then, Jen Keane joins us for an up...

Time Rymel grew up under the incredibly dogmatic and restrictive religion of Pentecostalism. At a young age, Tim realized he just wasn't attracted to women like he was "supposed" to be. But, his intense belief system didn't allow for that sort of thing, so Tim felt compelled to pursue gay conversion therapy. After he was "cured," he married a woman and became a leader in "ex-gay" ministry. Eventua...

The funniest guy I know is here to talk about... meditation? Turns out Eli has a wealth of knowledge on the practice, and has become something of an evangelist for it. Eli had a pretty heartbreaking revelation after a difficult time, and it led him to really want to get better. Meditation has really made a difference for him and he (and science) thinks it can make a difference for you, too! That s...

***For 30 dollars off your first week of HelloFresh, visit  hellofresh.com/seriouspod30  and enter seriouspod30.*** BJ Mendelson has a number of fascinating stories to tell us today! He went viral in 1998, long before it was called that. He amassed 1 million Twitter followers in kind of a weird way... He's privy to some of the darker stories behind Silicon Valley startups... And, he's got a lot to...

On the show this week is Evan Davids , author of the book Christianity No Longer Makes Sense and owner of a hilarious dog who can't catch food! (yeah, that dog !) Despite having written an anti-Christianity book, Evan doesn't consider himself an atheist! We talk about that and why he believes Christianity no longer makes any sense in today's world! Also, if you're a patron, make sure to catch the...

Mika McKinnon is a geophysicist, science communicator, sci-fi science consultant, and all around badass! We talk about her awesome job as part Bond Villain, part MacGyver. AFter that, Mika gives us some very good disaster advice and teaches us all about tsunamis and volcanoes! Then we go on to discuss her work as a sci-fi consultant where we finally give the movie The Core the scientific thrashing...

Alright that was shameless alliteration, I admit it. But the truth is that outrage brigade member Alix Jules is here to speak on a wide array of issues and I think you'll find him as informative and entertaining as always! Other issues we touched on were raising atheist children, protesting, police reform and the Stoneman Douglas students using their privilege for good. If you're a supporter of th...

***For $30 off your first week of  HelloFresh , visit  hellofresh .com  and enter seriouspod30*** Part of the value I believe the skeptic community could provide to our society is in leading on issues of science. This is an issue where it is my belief that the public is badly and dangerously misinformed. Here to answer some questions on just what nuclear power is and why it's crucial to our energy...

Recently in Ireland, a verdict was finally reached in a high-profile rape and sexual assault case involving famous rugby players. When it was announced, there was cheering by many men and despair among many women. Here to lay it all out for us is Irish feminist Jen Keane. In the wake of all this, she wrote a great Twitter thread about her experience on a jury in a rape case. Later on in the episod...

Today's episode is full of drama. So naturally, I have to talk about why there is drama and what I am trying to do in all this. One key question is: which issues do atheists tend to say "eh, agree to disagree" vs. "this disqualifies someone?" There are some patterns there to examine. Then, don't miss the later half where I discuss the Harris-Klein issue. I think there's an extremely fascinating in...