Atheist Experience 21.46 with Tracie Harris and Jen Peeples

Interview:
https://youtu.be/-b78cyqfnto

Top U.S. & World Headlines — November 30, 2017

Interview:
https://youtu.be/79mXP6viBh8

Trump retweets far-right, anti-Muslim videos -- PolitiFact

President Donald Trump shared with his 43.6 million Twitter followers videos tweeted by a leader of a far-right British political party, purportedly depicting Muslims committing violence and destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary. Between tweets touting economic success and blasting CNN, Trump retweeted three posts from Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of Britain First, who was found guilty last year of "religiously aggravated harassment" against a Muslim woman. ....
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/nov/29/donald-trump-retweets-anti-muslim-videos-far-right/

Donald Trump's unhinged Islamophobic tweetstorm suggests he may be divorced from reality -- Salon

President Donald Trump has used his Twitter account as a platform to attack others, embellish his own accomplishments and mislead the public to a degree that makes it difficult to argue it's not deliberate. His deceptive Islamophobic tweets on Wednesday morning were no different. ....
https://www.salon.com/2017/11/29/donald-trumps-unhinged-islamophobic-tweetstorm-shows-hes-completely-divorced-from-reality/

The Senate’s tax bill is a sweeping change to every part of federal health care -- Vox

It slashes Medicare by billions and will leave millions without insurance. ....
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/29/16712430/senate-tax-bill-change-federal-health-care

Trump account retweets incendiary videos - BBC News

Donald Trump has retweeted three inflammatory videos from a British far-right group....
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42166663

Why Students Should Leave Their Laptops Closed During Class -- FORTUNE

Score one for the Luddites. Taking notes with pen and paper may be more effective than with a laptop or tablet, studies show. In a New York Times article, Susan Dynarski, a professor of education, public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, explained that she has banned students from using electronics during her classes because of research showing that computers inhibit learning. ....
http://fortune.com/2017/11/27/why-students-should-leave-their-laptops-closed-during-class/

The robot-proof job men aren't taking

Nursing is the job of the future. So why have men stayed away?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOT0GOyw2pY&feature=youtu.be

Two Roy Moore fans caught on video roughing up news cameramen outside campaign rally -- Raw Story

Raw video from outside an event for Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore shows two apparent supporters physically attacking two cameramen who were reportedly trying to film the former judge's arrival. ....
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/two-roy-moore-fans-caught-on-video-roughing-up-news-cameramen-outside-campaign-rally/

Here’s how gender and sexuality issues are creating a fissure between Catholic universities and the Church

Catholic universities and colleges in the United States have long occupied a distinct (and sometimes distinctly uncomfortable) position within the Catholic Church, part of the Catholic ecosystem, yet also independent of it. But now, that delicate balancing act may be undone as the weight of cultural pressures create a fissure between what the Catholic Church teaches and what Catholic universities practice.....
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/heres-how-gender-and-sexuality-issues-are-creating-a-fissure-between-catholic-universities-and-the-church/

Here's a New Reason You Should Worry About Antibiotics -- TIME

Alexandra Sifferlin is a writer for TIME. She covers public health issues including infectious and chronic disease, big ideas in medicine, and breaking news. There's a global push for doctors and patients to use antibiotics more judiciously, largely because overusing them is contributing to growing resistance—meaning that some infections that were previously treatable no longer respond well to medications. Now, a new study in mice suggests that antibiotics may come with another potential health consequence. They could be interfering with the microbiome—a community of bacteria that live in the gut and elsewhere—and these changes may be passed down through generations and may cause disease.
http://time.com/5035160/antibiotics-colitis/

Flynn Had National Security Council Promote Nuke Plan To Trump -- TPM: WSJ

Michael Flynn had his Middle East nuclear power plan prepped for presidential approval by staffers at the National Security Council, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Flynn's plan to promote his former colleagues' business interests in the Middle East while serving in the Trump administration was previously known—what wasn't known is how far he managed to get with it. ....
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/flynn-saudi-nuke-plants

President Trump Hired Undocumented Immigrants for $4 An Hour for Demolition Project: Court Docs -- Newsweek

Many of the workers later testified that they would often work 12- to 16-hour shifts without gloves, hard hats or masks. ....
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-undocumented-immigrants-tower-demolish-724845

Grief Without Belief: How to Deal With Death as an Atheist - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMjj9_BICoE
 

How to Get Your Mind to Read - The New York Times

Americans are not good readers. Many blame the ubiquity of digital media. We’re too busy on Snapchat to read, or perhaps internet skimming has made us incapable of reading serious prose. But Americans’ trouble with reading predates digital technologies. The problem is not bad reading habits engendered by smartphones, but bad education habits engendered by a misunderstanding of how the mind reads.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/25/opinion/sunday/how-to-get-your-mind-to-read.html

Tobacco mea culpa: companies to run 'corrective' ads in US on smoking's harm | Business | The Guardian

Tobacco companies have delayed correcting false statements for eleven years since a federal court ordered them to do so....
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/26/tobacco-mea-culpa-companies-to-run-corrective-statements-on-smoking

Top U.S. & World Headlines — November 29, 2017

Interview:
https://youtu.be/LOeN_jzOjOA

Trump is Finished | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ

And thus my work here is done...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmkXR7EL_RY&feature=youtu.be

The Biggest Tax Scam in History - The New York Times

Donald Trump likes to declare that every good thing that happens while he’s in office — job growth, rising stock prices, whatever — is the biggest, greatest, best ever. Then the fact-checkers weigh in and quickly determine that the claim is false. But what’s happening in the Senate right now really does deserve Trumpian superlatives. The bill Republican leaders are trying to ram through this week without hearings, without time for even a basic analysis of its likely economic impact, is the biggest tax scam in history. It’s such a big scam that it’s not even clear who’s being scammed — middle-class taxpayers, people who care about budget deficits, or both.....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/27/opinion/senate-tax-bill-scam.html

The Four Big Tax Deceptions - The New York Times

The independent evaluations of the Trump tax plan have been rough. They show a plan that deeply cuts taxes on the wealthy, causes the deficit to jump and does little to lift economic growth. Yet the plan’s defenders continue to describe it as a “beautiful” thing (President Trump’s word) that would transform the economy and bestow gifts on ordinary Americans. How do they keep making these claims? I count four major tactics that they’re using:....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/opinion/republican-tax-plan.html

Schumer, Pelosi cancel meeting with Trump after Twitter attack - POLITICO

The Democrats pulled out of a meeting at the White House after Trump attacked them on Twitter.....
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/28/schumer-pelosi-cancel-meeting-with-trump-262853

Republican Senator Wants Individuals to Pay Higher Taxes if Corporate Tax Cuts Don't Pay Off -- Mother Jones

On Tuesday morning, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told CNBC that Americans should automatically pay more taxes if tax cuts don't create the economic growth Republicans are promising. To do that, Corker wants Republicans to add a trigger to the Senate tax bill that would increase taxes if it doesn't meet revenue projections. ....
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/11/republican-senator-wants-individuals-to-pay-higher-taxes-if-corporate-tax-cuts-dont-pay-off/

MSNBC analyst blames 'carnival barker' Trump's 'insane governing style' for leading US to the brink of war -- Raw Story

During a MSNBC panel discussion that veered back and forth between North Korea's provocative missile launch on Tuesday and the government facing a shutdown because due to President Donald Trump's insults, an MSNBC analyst blamed in Trump's 'insane governing style." ....
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/msnbc-analyst-blames-carnival-barker-trumps-insane-governing-style-for-leading-us-to-the-brink-of-war/

Bernie Sanders FURIOUSLY DESTROYS Republican Tax Scam

Senator Bernie Sanders calls out Republicans for trying to pass a tax bill that would inflate the budget deficit after years of claiming to be the party of fiscal responsibility.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa9PasV0Qoc&feature=youtu.be
 

Mueller Investigation: What Flynn’s Flip Flop on Turkey Tells Us -- Newsweek

He switched from a hardline position against Erdogan to conspicuous public support. ....
http://www.newsweek.com/mueller-investigation-what-flynns-flip-flop-turkey-tells-us-724600

'A huge red flag for Republicans': GOP frantic as longtime voters abandon party over Trump -- Raw Story

Nearly one year after Donald Trump took up residence in the White House, the failures and petty squabbles of the new president are already having an impact on voters, causing Republicans to be concerned how much damage he can do to the party before the 2018 midterms. ....
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/a-huge-red-flag-for-republicans-gop-frantic-as-longtime-voters-abandon-party-over-trump/

Robert Reich: Mnuchin Is a Lying Knave -- Newsweek

Merely by joining Trump, he lost whatever integrity he might have had. ....
http://www.newsweek.com/robert-reich-mnuchin-lying-knave-722610

Alexei Bayer: The collapse of the American empire | KyivPost

Last week, this column described the revolutionary fervor shaking U.S. domestic politics and transforming its political system in the most dramatic way in nearly two and a half centuries. Major changes are also underway in Washington’s foreign policy. They are already having implications for the global political and economic system the United States has built since World War II.....
https://www.kyivpost.com/article/opinion/op-ed/alexei-bayer-collapse-american-empire.html

Trump recommends reading this insane website -- ThinkProgress.org

In a Saturday night tweet, Trump attacked CNN, saying the network's international division "represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly." A few minutes later, Trump tweeted an alternative: MagaPill.com. ....
https://thinkprogress.org/what-is-magapill-1fb18b6f2ed0/

N.Y. attorney general slams the FCC over net neutrality investigation

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the Federal Communications Commission traded barbs on Wednesday over an investigation into a suspected scheme to manipulate the process through which Americans can weigh in on the FCC's move to repeal net neutrality rules.

Schneiderman, in an open letter, said an enormous number of fake comments were sent to the FCC about its move to repeal net neutrality rules. Those behind the scheme may have impersonated hundreds of thousands of real Americans by appropriating their names and addresses to make submissions, he said, in a scam akin to identity theft on a "massive scale."....
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/22/n-y-attorney-general-slams-the-fcc-over-net-neutrality-investigation.html

Billion-year-old fossils of earliest life form discovered in India

A scientist in India found microfossils that have been dated to be a staggering 2 billion years old. The prokaryotic fossils represent the planet’s oldest-known form of life.....
http://www.newsweek.com/india-fossil-microfossil-bacteria-evolution-2-billion-years-722014

Does the World Fall Apart Without Religion? | Randy - Marshaltown, IA | ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdsoy-zw9J8&feature=youtu.be

Would-be Obama assassin identified by cat hairs, authorities say | US news | The Guardian

Fur on an explosive package was matched to cats owned by Julia Poff, accused of attempted postal attacks on former president and Texas governor....
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/24/barack-obama-explosive-package-cat-hairs.

Ben Shapiro, a Provocative ‘Gladiator,’ Battles to Win Young Conservatives -- The New York Times

Ben Shapiro, who has been called the voice of the conservative millennial movement, is trying to define conservatism at a time when its meaning is up for grabs. ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/us/ben-shapiro-conservative.html

Christian Idiocy 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkOKgByyFAE&feature=youtu.be

Top U.S. & World Headlines — November 28, 2017

Interview:
https://youtu.be/FMCce0ql6ww

Trump's Christmas Gift to the Poor: Tax Hikes: The Daily Show

After President Trump called to reform the tax code, Trevor breaks down how a proposed GOP plan will affect low-income Americans.
https://youtu.be/VVchNC5MJjc

If Trump’s FCC Repeals Net Neutrality, Elites Will Rule the Internet—and the Future | The Nation

“This naked corporatism is Washington at its worst,” says former FCC commissioner Michael Copps.....
https://www.thenation.com/article/if-trumps-fcc-repeals-net-neutrality-elites-will-rule-the-internet-and-the-future/

100 Renowned Academics Speaking About God - YouTube

The more scientifically literate, intellectually honest and objectively skeptical a person is, the more likely they are to disbelieve in anything supernatural, including god. This film is a compilation of some of the best examples of such individuals, and their thoughts on the divine. All the speakers featured are elite academics and professors at top institutions, some of whom are also Nobel Laureates.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfba0IGysRQ&t=300s

Tens of thousands with outstanding warrants purged from background check database for gun purchases -- The Washington Post

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has instructed the FBI and ATF to find ways to improve the screening system. ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/tens-of-thousands-with-outstanding-warrants-purged-from-background-check-database-for-gun-purchases/2017/11/22/b890643c-ced1-11e7-9d3a-bcbe2af58c3a_story.html

States Warn of Budget Crunch Under Republican Tax Plan -- The New York Times

Some state officials say the $1.5 trillion tax cut moving through Congress would raise taxes on residents and force tough decisions at the local level. ....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/us/politics/states-warn-of-budget-crunch-under-republican-tax-plan.html

Trudeau says housing is a human right — what does that mean exactly? - Politics - CBC News

UN says such a recognition does not mean the government has to build all of the nation's housing stock....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-housing-rights-human-rights-1.4414854

Does Atheism Provide a Good Moral Foundation? | Joel - NJ | Atheist Expe...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pygo0JBK3xA&feature=youtu.be

Why I, an atheist, am afraid of hell - YouTube

I was born a Catholic. You see, I had no say in the matter; it was predetermined for me by a mixture of factors including my parents, my geography and my culture. Fortunately, through the work of secular intellectuals, I later realised that there is more than one way of interpreting the universe, but the remnants of a Christian childhood never truly go away.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrfBFZggqhg

Russia accused of 'cover-up' as authorities admit seeing dramatic spike in radiation - but refuse to investigate source | The Independent

'You can’t help but be reminded of Chernobyl. That secrecy damaged a lot of people’s lives'....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-radiation-nuclear-radioactive-mayak-urals-southern-greenpeace-chernobyl-a8067386.html

Coal mining fatalities up sharply as Trump cuts safety regulations, cripples MSHA

No matter what the signs say, Donald Trump does not “dig coal.” Trump may do favors for coal mine owners, but the actual digging is left to the nation’s small number of coal miners. Since Trump took office, the number of mining jobs has gone up. But it hasn’t doubled, no matter what lies Scott Pruitt tries to spread. Instead, jobs in mining increased from about 50,300 when Trump took office, to 51,900 in October—an increase of about 3 percent. But something else has gone up much faster.....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/24/1717298/-Coal-mining-fatalities-up-sharply-as-Trump-cuts-safety-regulations-cripples-MSHA

Patients Who Can Legally Take Medical Cannabis More Likely To Quit Opioids, Study Finds - saludmóvil™

A new study finds that patients who can legally treat themselves with medical cannabis stop using prescription opioids or use fewer opiates to care for chronic pain symptoms.....
https://saludmovil.com/patients-who-can-legally-take-medical-cannabis-more-likely-to-quit-opioids-study-finds/

Top U.S. & World Headlines — November 27, 2017

Interview:
https://youtu.be/OFkUCJIWSTc

The GOP's Extremist Agenda Is Making It Easy For Democrats To Stand Their Ground -- HuffPost

Sixteen years ago, a newly elected Republican president got a huge tax cut through Congress. And he did so with the support of a dozen Democratic senators, most of them politically vulnerable because they came from Republican-leaning states. The mass defection outraged Democratic leaders and grassroots activists, but none of them were really surprised. ....
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/politically-vulnerable-democrats-trump_us_5a1878d0e4b0cee6c04fa04a

Quick Rebuttals to Common Christian Claims

Richard Carrier concisely rebuts six common claims apologists make....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_cc19s7ZFw&feature=youtu.be

Judge nixes another piece of Texas abortion law; appeal already filed by relentless forced birthers

In a 27-page decision, a federal judge in Texas ruled Wednesday that the state’s ban on a widely used, World Health Organization-approved second-trimester method of terminating a pregnancy “intervenes in the medical process of abortion prior to viability in an unduly burdensome manner.” As in other recent abortion rulings, this one used language found in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 25-year-old Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision that bars laws which place an “undue burden” on women.....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/24/1718306/-Judge-nixes-another-piece-of-Texas-abortion-law-appeal-already-filed-by-relentless-forced-birthers

Galapagos finches caught in act of becoming new species - BBC News

A population of finches on the Galapagos has been discovered in the process of becoming a new species.....
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42103058

States prepare to shut down children’s health programs if Congress doesn’t act -- The Washington Post

CHIP funding will run out soon in some states. "You can't say 'probably' everything is going to be all right," a Virginia health official said. ....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/states-prepare-to-shut-down-childrens-health-programs-if-congress-doesnt-act/2017/11/23/01a6169e-ba7d-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb_story.html

Why Putin’s Foes Deplore U.S. Fixation on Election Meddling -- The New York Times

"Enough already!" one critic of President Vladimir V. Putin said, worried that the accusations were helping the Kremlin polish the president's image as a master strategist. ....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/world/europe/russia-vladimir-putin-liberals.html?_r=0

Trump Administration Set to Defend Birth Control Rules That Pit Religion Against Women’s Health

ALICIA BAKER GREW up in a deeply religious family. Her parents were leaders in their congregation. They took Baker and her sister on mission trips and instilled in them the importance of faith in action, a principle around which Baker has organized her life. She went to Christian schools and attended seminary, where she received her master’s degree. In 2015, she moved from California to Indianapolis to take a job with a church-affiliated nonprofit. And it wasn’t long afterward that she met Josh; the two fell in love and decided they should marry.....
https://theintercept.com/2017/11/21/trump-birth-control-mandate-religion/

Questioning Evolution: The Push to Change Science Class - The New York Times

“Evolution Mama” is a sassy song dating back many decades, probably best played on a banjo, maybe with a kazoo in the background. “Evolution mama,” it goes, “don’t you make a monkey out of me.” That certainly captures the sentiments of religious groups and like-minded politicians who believe Charles Darwin was talking through his hat and there is no way that humans are descended from lower animals.....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/19/us/retro-report-evolution-science.html?_r=2

How Trump’s Hands-Off Approach to Policing Is Frustrating Some Chiefs -- The New York Times

The president says the Justice Department has meddled too much in policing. But even police chiefs in Republican areas are frustrated with his rollback. ....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/trump-justice-department-police.html

American seniors are sicker than global peers -- CBS News

A survey of 11 high-income nations also finds those 65 and older in the US can least afford appropriate health care ....
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-seniors-are-sicker-than-global-peers/?ftag=CNM-00-10aac3a

Shrinking the Tent: How American Atheists Won’t Tolerate Intolerance – Friendly Atheist

As an organization, we embrace the broadest definition of “atheist,” which is someone who a lacks a belief in a deity, be it Thor, Zeus, Ganesh, Yahweh, Jesus, Mohammad, or any of the other thousands of gods that have been imagined for as long as people have been around. Atheists are the most maligned and underrepresented demographic in the country, so we must speak up in order to be counted. Our tent is a big one because atheists come from everywhere, and we need help from every kind of atheist: Democrats and Republicans, Libertarians and Socialists, conservatives and liberals, firebrands and diplomats. Reasonable people can have reasonable disagreements about reasonable topics. That’s what it means to be an American.

Today, we are living in a nation and world very different from just a year ago. ....
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/11/20/shrinking-the-tent-how-american-atheists-wont-tolerate-intolerance/

Moore's wife coins new anti-abortion term to attack his Democratic opponent | PolitiFact

As Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore wrestles with accounts of sexual encounters with underaged teens, his Democratic opponent faces political attacks about abortion. Doug Jones is unabashedly pro-abortion rights, and Moore’s wife Kayla spoke at a rally in Montgomery, Ala., about his position. Reading from a prepared statement, Moore called Jones "an ultra-liberal." "Who was an Obama delegate," she said of Jones on Nov. 17. "Who is for full-term abortion?....
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/nov/21/kayla-moore/moores-wife-coins-new-anti-abortion-term-attack-hi/

Trump angry that people take CNN seriously when Fox News is 'MUCH more important' -- Raw Story

President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday that he doesn't understand why CNN is taken seriously all over the world when Fox News -- the network that effectively functions as the propaganda arm of his administration -- is "much more important." ....
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/trump-angry-that-people-take-cnn-seriously-when-fox-news-is-much-more-important/

The GOP Crusade Against Obamacare's Mandate Says A Lot About How The Party Changed -- HuffPost

Senate Republicans are set to vote next week on tax legislation that would eliminate the financial penalty for people who don't get health insurance, often called the "individual mandate." And plenty of Republicans seem positively giddy about the prospect.....
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/individual-mandate-gop_us_5a15b4f6e4b03dec8249bc83

President Trump Now Says That Wasn’t Him on Access Hollywood Tape -- New York Magazine

It's hard to tell whether he's losing his grip on all reality or just living in his own one. ....
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/trump-now-not-sure-that-was-him-on-access-hollywood-tape.html

No, you’re not being paranoid. Sites really are watching your every move | Ars Technica

Sites log your keystrokes and mouse movements in real time, before you click submit.....
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/an-alarming-number-of-sites-employ-privacy-invading-session-replay-scripts/

House unleashes avalanche of campaign cash - Daily Reflector

Moneyball politics took a great leap forward when the Supreme Court opened the door to campaign contributions from corporations and unions in the 2010 case Citizens United v. FEC. Now the Republican-controlled House has passed a tax bill that, should it become law, would unleash another tidal wave of change. It would permit churches, charities and foundations to engage in candidate-specific politicking and enable donors to reap tax breaks for political contributions for the first time. Congress ought not allow this to happen.....
http://www.reflector.com/Editorials/2017/11/21/The-House-tax-bill-unleashes-a-dangerous-avalanche-of-campaign-cash.html

Cows Chase a Toy Car!! - funny

https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/7ektp4/cows_chase_a_toy_car/

Robert Reich: Jim Crow Is Making a Furious Comeback | Alternet

The former secretary of labor warns hundreds of thousands are being disenfranchised....
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/robert-reich-jim-crow-making-furious-comebackw