Serious Inquiries Only

... and another great round of your voicemails! A website called thewrap.com unearthed some old blog posts by Cenk Uygur in which he wrote some alarmingly sexist things. He has since apologized and emphasized that he doesn't believe those things anymore. Here is their article  and here's the biased Gateway Pundit Article . How ought we to evaluate something like this in the wake of the #metoo mome...

Dr. Topher Stephenson joins me today to talk about traumatic brain injuries. He educates us a bit on the basics, and then we talk about how he, as a parent, evaluates the decision of letting his kids play sports. Which ones are safe? Should youth soccer require headgear? And much more. Check out his organization here . Also the CDC page on TBI is a good resource. Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 75...

Ok so maybe the left is eating its own... After brushing by a couple points on the tax bill, I talk about a few instances of people on the left being unfairly demonized and harassed by other people on the left. It sucks. ContraPoints on YouTube seemed to me to be very affected by harassment over her decision to attend an event with Blaire White and Theryn Meyer. I talk briefly about that but then...

Samantha Corbin is a Sacramento lobbyist who was fed up with the pervasive culture of sexual misconduct in the Capitol . She and some colleagues wrote an open letter and started an organization called #WeSaidEnough . It has absolutely caught fire! Her co-founder ended up on the cover of Time Magazine. In this interview, Samantha takes us through how pervasive this behavior has been and what her an...

Congratulations to Doug Jones and thank you so much to black voters of Alabama for turning out and getting us 1 vote closer to taking back the Senate!!!! First up today I've got an update on the Patreon situation. They backed down, but I'm still going forward with a membership option on my website. I explain in more depth, and then I've got a fantastic conversation with Aaron Rabi of Embrace the V...

Natalie Newell was just a science loving mom who wanted to make a documentary about some other science loving moms ... but once she did, she found herself the topic of some bizarre conspiracies! We talk about that experience, and we discuss some common anti-scientific attitudes in this country, like chiropractic, vaccinations, GMOs, and alternative medicine. Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-474...

It's finally here! Part of of my series examining the arguments in the "documentary" "The Red Pill." Today we talk about video game addiction, porn addiction, toxic masculinity, and then the main topic: sentencing disparity. Are men treated unfairly by the justice system? Spoiler, the answer is actually yes. Here's the study most in line with MRA claims. Others have it lower, but this one is very...

Crystal Lee was First Runner-Up in the 2014 Miss America pageant, and now she's part of a tech startup in Silicon Valley. Crystal has written some incisive pieces including one for CNN.com  in response to what happened at the most recent Miss America - that is, a contested answered a question competently and the world exploded. We talk about her background, how exactly one becomes a Miss America c...

...unless you're a bazillionaire or a bank or some other corporation. I talk about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - the brainchild of one future president Elizabeth Warren  - and that the only reason you could possibly be against it is if you hate people and prefer banks. So, naturally the Republicans are against it. Then I'm onto another rousing voicemail segment that takes up most of t...

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, during which you no doubt spent hours arguing with your conservative family members, I bring you a discussion with a Trump supporting Republican. Though undoubtedly a gigantic underdog, Lonnie Miller is making a grassroots effort to become Governor of Tennessee. We talk about how he decided to do that, and we have some cross-political dialogue and the ele...

In the first part of this episode I do some followup on Monday's show. There's another Franken accuser (and another 2...) and there are some more points to be made. A woman tweeted that she didn't care that men might be falsely accused, and the internet exploded. Did it matter that she clarified and apologized? Nah. Also, the process for dealing with sexual harassment in Congress is AWFUL. Then at...

In a world where we're finally starting to take allegations of sexual misconduct seriously, what is next? How do we as a society treat the perpetrators? Does it matter if they are contrite? Are there different levels of seriousness? All these are very tough questions that I don't think we, as a whole, quite have the answers to yet. Here to help us get the dialogue started are Dr. Kristi Winters an...

A House vote on the new Republican Tax Bill is happening as early as today, so I reluctantly have decided to take a peek into Paul Ryan's deepest fantasies. I cover some of the low-lights, and then talk about putting the Bill and income inequality into historical context. Do we really need a tax cut right now? Paul Ryan Explains Himself ; Biggest Tax Cut Ever? ; 538 on House Reps Who Could Cause T...

It's time for one of my favorite things, and that is - hearing from you! We've got some great voicemail for this episode, from diverse viewpoints. For example, did you know that equality happened in 1992? Neither did I! These are always my favorite episodes, so I highly recommend you don't miss it! Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746, remember short and to the point! Support us on Patreon at:...

It's another topic decide by the fine folks over at patreon.com/seriouspod ! Donna Brazile made a huge stir with her article on Politico.com claiming the DNC was rigged in favor of Hillary. She actually later walked back that language, but that didn't stop an avalanche of accusations on both sides. I tried very hard to check all my biases and take a look at the evidence and see what really happene...

Dr. Kate Biberdorf is the brains behind the science outreach program 'Fun with Chemistry!' We talk about the disturbing anti-science attitude prevalent in our society right now and the exciting and laudable work she and others are doing to make science cool again! Check her out at https://www.katethechemist.com or http://www.funwithchem.com! Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746, remember short...

A listener sent me an email about a concept called DARVO. It's a tactic abusers use and it's shockingly exactly what Trump (and maybe a certain other someone we all know...) is doing. I talk about that and then look into some questions like, did Hillary give 20% of our Uranium to the Russians? Did the DNC and the HIllary campaign collude with Russia to fix the election? Then I talk about why we sh...

As you likely saw, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations, women started sharing their stories of sexual harassment and assault under the hashtag #metoo. I wish we lived in a world where this kind of thing wasn't necessary, but unfortunately we don't. We live in a world where people still somehow believe this isn't a widespread problem. Where people are in, at best, a state of ignorance....

It's part 3, which may or may not be the final part! Once again, here is the original list of accomplishments.  We've got some doozies today! 20. Pentagon Report  21. The NASA Bill  22. NY Times on the Rule ; NPR on Obama's Rule 23. Polling on Obamacare 24. Bombing ISIS 25. Trump's Fake Philanthropy ; AP on Inaugural Fund 26. Republicans Hate Veterans 27. No link needed yet 28. Pointless Education...

Well, here's the terrible recording with Brian and Dmitry from Mythicist Milwaukee, but not their president and co-founder, Sean. Thanks to Eli for coming on. This will be the last episode dedicated to Mythicist Milwaukee. Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746, remember short and to the point! Support us on Patreon at:   patreon.com/seriouspod Follow us on Twitter:  @ seriouspod Facebook:   htt...

Today's episode I have to explain a few things about the next couple recordings, and then I talk about some of the science behind emotion and logic. My more qualified wife, Lydia, did some research on this question. A man lost his ability to feel emotion when a brain tumor operation went badly. What do you think happened to him? Was he all of a sudden a superhero of logic and rationality? Or was h...

Joining me on the show for the first time is biologist and blogger PZ Myers! I wanted to get PZ's view of the atheist movement and how it has evolved, from his perspective. He has a fascinating story to tell, and we barely scratched the surface! Check out his blog Pharyngula. Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746, remember short and to the point! Support us on Patreon at:   patreon.com/seriousp...

Today's episode is a bit of a double feature. First up is a conversation with feminist writer Jessica Xiao! Jessica had a post about male feminists that I found very interesting and I'm so glad she agreed to come on to talk about it. We also discuss her background and where she sees herself (if at all) within the atheist movement. Check out Jessica's website for more about her and her writing! Aft...

Today I'm very pleased to bring you an interview with Kristi Winters! Kristi was perhaps the main driver behind the awareness campaign for just how awful Sargon is. But, there is so much misinformation out there about what exactly she did that even I was surprised by the full story, despite the fact that we were in semi-regular communication. You should definitely check out her youtube channel her...

As you likely know by now, Mythinformation conference was a shitshow. Here's my story. This whopper could have easily been 2 episodes but I didn't want to make you wait. Don't say I never did anything for you. I've got a message to anyone involved in the Mythicist Milwaukee organization at the 77 minute mark. Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746, remember short and to the point! Support us on...