The Antiscience Movement Is Escalating, Going Global and Killing Thousands - Scientific American

Rejection of mainstream science and medicine has become a key feature of the political right in the United States and, increasingly, around the world...

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-antiscience-movement-is-escalating-going-global-and-killing-thousands/

Responding to Muslim Comments

Grumpy teenage atheist reads his comments. Muslim version.
Interview:
https://youtu.be/kxfiaH3oLxA

NASA Administrator Nominee Bridenstine Won't Acknowledge the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change -- Newsweek

"I believe that humans have contributed to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere." But how much? That he wouldn't say. ...
http://www.newsweek.com/nasa-nominee-bridenstine-wont-acknowledge-scientific-consensus-climate-change-698873

Overheard -- Rep. Jim Himes

Science and truth remarkably always need advocacy against the forces of nostalgia and fear and irrationality. . . . At the end of the day, policy has to be guided by facts and truth. . . . I represent one of the most educated districts in the country. And so, I think my constituents expect this of me. 

 U.S. Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who has proposed commemorating the birth date of Charles Darwin. Danbury News Times, 4-13-17
https://ffrf.org/images/uploads/fttoday/2017/FT_May_2017.pdf

Scientists Fear Trump Will Dismiss Blunt Climate Report - The New York Times

The average temperature in the United States has risen rapidly and drastically since 1980, and recent decades have been the warmest of the past 1,500 years, according to a sweeping federal climate change report awaiting approval by the Trump administration.

The draft report by scientists from 13 federal agencies concludes that Americans are feeling the effects of climate change right now. It directly contradicts claims by President Trump and members of his cabinet who say that the human contribution to climate change is uncertain, and that the ability to predict the effects is limited....
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/07/climate/climate-change-drastic-warming-trump.html

Turkey will stop teaching evolution in schools, education ministry says

Turkish schoolchildren will no longer be taught about evolution, a government official has said, in another sign of the conservative direction the country is heading in under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/23/turkey-will-stop-teaching-evolution-schools-education-ministry/

Seth Andrews: Christianity Made Me Talk Like an Idiot

Seth Andrews gave this speech June 3, 2017 in Toronto at the Imagine 7 conference. It's a humorous (and perhaps therapeutic) romp through Seth's religious past...and the often bizarre words and attitudes that reflected his Christian faith.
Interview:
https://youtu.be/URr0O9aHW38

Vaccines: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

The benefits of vaccines far outweigh the minuscule risks, but some parents still question their safety. John Oliver discusses why some people may still feel uncertainty about childhood vaccinations.
https://youtu.be/7VG_s2PCH_c

Anti-Evolution Classroom Rant - Debunked!

Talk Beliefs fights fire with science in this evidence-based smackdown of 'Debunk Evolution Classroom Promo Video' (by Genesis Apologetics) which urges Christian teens to boycott biology lessons that dare to teach evolution.

Fifteen-year-old California High School student, Kayla, just 'can't understand' how the process of evolution can possibly work (despite having been taught it for weeks) and goes on a wild rant about its faults and absurdities... as she sees it.

Should pupils from religious backgrounds refuse to learn topics that contradict their faith, or just shut up and do the work? You be the judge.
Interview:
https://youtu.be/I8WuSyb3KLg

Trump Administration Says It Isn’t Anti-Science As It Seeks to Slash EPA Science Office

When the city of Toledo temporarily lost access to clean drinking water several years ago after a bloom of toxic algae, the Environmental Protection Agency sent scientists from its Office of Research and Development to study health effects and formulate solutions.

The same office was on the front lines of the Flint water crisis and was a critical presence in handling medical waste from the U.S. Ebola cases in 2014. ...
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-administration-anti-science-seeks-to-slash-epa-science-office

Revamped "Anti-Science" Education Bills in U.S. Find Success - Scientific American

Legislation urges educators to "teach the controversy" and allows citizens to challenge curricula...
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/revamped-anti-science-education-bills-in-u-s-find-success/

‘Just watch America fade’: Neil deGrasse Tyson warns of waning influence without scientific innovation [Video]

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson took great pride in growing up in a country driven by scientific innovation but fears recent antiscience sentiments could result in the U.S. lagging behind....
https://www.yahoo.com/news/just-watch-america-fade-neil-degrasse-tyson-warns-waning-influence-without-scientific-innovation-190222168.html3

Anti-vaxxers targeted a Somali community and a measles outbreak resulted

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 41 documented cases of measles in Minnesota, 40 of which were in children, 39 of which were in people who had not been vaccinated, and 34 of which were in people of Somali descent. More cases are expected in the weeks ahead. It’s no coincidence that anti-vaxxers have targeted Minnesota’s Somali community for the past 15 years with their propaganda, convincing them to cut vaccination rates from 92 percent in 2004 to 42 percent in 2014. ...
https://thinkprogress.org/minnesota-measles-somali-anti-vaxxers-20086bc389c8