There is no reason to think that the level of unbelief among elected officials in the US is much less than it is in the general public so it is really quite embarrassing that there are no openly atheist members of the US Congress. Compare that with the UK where they actually have a state religion of which the Queen is the head but where their All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group has 150 members, most of them elected atheists.
[Read more…]
Via reader Marcus Ranum I read about this extraordinary case where a medical examiner arrives at a cause of death of a person in police custody that seems to go directly counter to the facts of the case.
[Read more…]
Whenever I go to the dentist, it seems like the Dr. Oz show is on their TV in the waiting room. It is an absolutely nauseating show where the host uses his impressive medical credentials to plug various products with wildly exaggerated claims. And yet apparently people take him seriously, making the dietary supplement industry highly profitable.
[Read more…]
Extreme supporters of gun rights who think that people should be allowed to carry rifles and other guns openly in almost any public place including schools, libraries, and churches, may now be tempted to temper that gung-ho, anything goes, attitude. The Black Panthers have decided that they too should carry guns openly in order to combat what they see as reckless and unjustified violence by the police against the black community.
[Read more…]
Ireland is apparently going to have a referendum on marriage equality in 2015. Here is a promotion that has been created by the group LGBT Noise for an upcoming march in support of equality.
[Read more…]
Bank of America is the latest to pay a fine for mortgage fraud that led to the financial crises that resulted in thousands of people losing their homes. In announcing the fine that had been agreed to of $16.65 billion, Attorney General Eric Holder said today:
[Read more…]
The brutal murder of a journalist James Foley by the ISIS militants has rightly been widely condemned. But in doing so, president Obama was being disingenuous when he said that “No faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day.”
[Read more…]
We learn that the notorious Los Angeles Police Department has in two separate incidents just nine days apart shot dead a young Hispanic man and a young black man, sparking protests there too.
[Read more…]