These 5 Classics Are WAY Easier Than You Think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epTWXYrNK2U

 

Coping with Minnesota and Venezuela with Books (Andrew Seidel; One Nation, Indivisible podcast Episode #047)

There’s a lot to catch up on after a vacation, but self-care these days is important. After diving into the horrific ICE shooting in Minnesota and the US military assault on Venezuela, Andrew explains how he survived 2025: Books. Books are a big part of the reason. Andrew goes over some of his favorite reads of 2025 (fiction and non-fiction). Full lists appear below.  

• Slate article on prosecuting ICE officers: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/01/is-minneapolis-ice-shooter-immune-state-prosecution-supreme-court.html  
• Come Cruise the Caribbean with Andrew: http://freethoughtcruise.com/  
• Andrew’s Favorite NON-FICTION Reads of 2025: https://bookshop.org/lists/andrew-s-favorite-nonfiction-reads-2025  
• Andrew’s Favorite FICTION Reads of 2025: https://bookshop.org/lists/andrew-s-favorite-fiction-reads-2025

Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-5jtew-2a46a5da

Trump Plays Villain #paulapoundstone #PoliticalComedy #Satire #FunnyShor...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RCHwxVpBEPE

 

Catholic School Fires Widowed Gay Teacher (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #590)

— ACLU sues Michigan school after Palestinian teen bullied by teacher over Pledge protest. (2:20)

— Catholic school fires widowed teacher over same-sex marriage. (14:42)

— Oklahoma sued over school standards that mix Christianity with right-wing lies. (38:18)

— Supreme Court opens door to religious veto of public school lessons, starting with LGBTQ books. (55:55)

— Trump policies force global Humanist conference to abandon U.S. plans. (1:11:42)
Interview: 

https://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2025/07/03/catholic-school-fires-widowed-gay-teacher/

Librarians Are Not Groomers (w/Heath Umbreit) (Conspirituality podcast #201)

When Moms For Liberty attacks libraries with demands to ban books about MLK Jr and age-appropriate sex education, and claims that librarians are grooming their children into the trans agenda, they’re enacting the worst forms of neo-fascist bullying. But they’re also paradoxically defending a troubled American legacy against a librarian culture attempting to course-correct towards greater inclusion.

To discuss this problem, Matthew talks to Heath Umbreit, a reference librarian who works at a public library in the northeastern U.S. Mis- and disinformation has been a professional and personal interest of theirs for several years; Heath's study of the phenomenon focuses on a critical examination of popular narratives about disinformation, the concept of epistemic supremacy, and the ways in which information and disinformation intersect with systemic power differentials in American society.
Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-tf9q2-1e29cd61

Beyond The Bible: Where Else Can Wisdom Be Found?

Today's episode is a look at 10 other works of ancient wisdom literature. The bible has its books, but before, during, and after its creation, cultures worldwide wrote down wisdom that compares or surpasses that of a supposedly all-knowing god. Let's take a look!

Interview: 

https://youtu.be/sIi4Zw_QVYw?si=uP1I5X6GUz6C5AXu

Judge rejects Maryland parents’ motion to keep kids out of lessons with LGBTQ books | The Hill

The parents argue that the books "contradict their sincerely held religious beliefs about marriage, human sexuality, and gender" and that the lack of an opt-out policy violates their children's First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.

However, Boardman noted that every court that has addressed similar questions about mandatory public school curriculums has found that "mere exposure in public school to ideas that contradict religious beliefs does not burden the religious exercise of students or parents."…

https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4171618-judge-rejects-maryland-parents-motion-to-keep-kids-out-of-lessons-with-lgbtq-books/

Houston school district to turn libraries into disciplinary centers | Texas | The Guardian

Critics condemn superintendent Mike Miles's 'new education system' that removes students' access to books…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/29/houston-school-district-libraries-book

Book Publishers Won’t Stop Until Libraries Are Dead | Techdirt

Earlier this week there was finally a hearing in the case brought by the big book publishersto kill off libraries. That, of course, is not how the publishers describe the lawsuit, but it's absolutely what the lawsuit is about...

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/03/22/book-publishers-wont-stop-until-libraries-are-dead/

John Irving: Forced birth is religious persecution

"In the time of the Puritans, abortion was allowed until the fetus was “quick” — meaning, when the woman could feel the fetus move. Abortion was permissible beyond the first trimester, up to four or five months.

Our Founding Fathers got this right — the choice to have an abortion or a child belonged to the woman who was pregnant. With the help of midwives, women were having babies and abortions at home since colonial times.

Beginning in the 1840s, and continuing over decades, abortion was outlawed state by state, becoming illegal everywhere in the United States by 1900 — until 1973, when the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision held that a woman had a constitutional right to an abortion. For more than two centuries — beginning when the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Mass. — abortion was largely permitted. Please remember, abortion was prohibited for scarcely a century. What’s happened now is religious backwardness..."

https://www.freethoughttoday.com/free/john-irving-forced-birth-is-religious-persecution/

Librarian Shames Conservatives Who 'Threatened' Her Over LGBTQ Books

A Michigan librarian ripped into conservatives who have "threatened" and "cursed at" her...

https://www.insider.com/michigan-librarian-conservatives-threats-lgbtq-books-2022-12

Anne Frank adaptation, 40 more books pulled from Texas school district - The Washington Post

Patriot Mobile Action, a Christian political action committee based in Texas, endorsed and funded the campaigns of 11 school board candidates across the county, who all won. Three of them joined Keller's seven-person board of trustees in May...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/anne-frank-book-school-texas/

'State-sponsored purging of ideas’: Students are losing access to books - The Washington Post

"This is a state-sponsored purging of ideas and identities that has no precedent in the United States of America," said John Chrastka, EveryLibrary's executive director. "We're witnessing the silencing of stories and the suppressing of information [that will make] the next generation less able to function in society."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/17/book-ban-restriction-access-lgbtq/

These are books school systems don’t want you to read, and why - The Washington Post

The Post counted 10 common rationales for book bans, alongside prominent examples of each…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/04/28/book-banned-why-locations/

Go Back to Where You Came From by Wajahat Ali - Episode 3 (Chapters 2 &3) (Allison Gill; Mueller, She Wrote podcast, episode 3)

This week: Allison covers chapters 2 &3 of Go Back to Where You Came From by Wajahat Ali.

Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-kb2d9-1320ce31

PolitiFact | ‘Don’t say gay’ vs. ‘parental rights': Fact-checking claims about Florida’s HB 1557

"GOP's 2022 platform: Ban books, Ban abortion, Ban Black history, Ban transgender teens, Ban saying 'gay' and Ban voting," said Dean Obeidallah, a left-leaning radio host and comedian, on March 11. "But get this — the GOP tell us they are all about 'Freedom.'"

https://www.politifact.com/article/2022/mar/23/dont-say-gay-vs-parental-rights-fact-checking-clai/

‘It’s a culture war that’s totally out of control’: the authors whose books are being banned in US schools

"First," she wrote, "the remark: 'Offensive to Christians' amazes me. Nowhere in the book is the regime identified as Christian. As for sexual explicitness, The Handmaid's Tale is a lot less interested in sex than is much of the Bible."…

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/22/its-a-culture-war-thats-totally-out-of-control-the-authors-whose-books-are-being-banned-in-us-schools

Eight Books Uncovering Black Histories - The Atlantic

…French's sweeping but eminently readable narrative rejects one common framing of modernity—the claim that it stemmed from the accomplishments of European figures, including those like Christopher Columbus, whose arrival in the so-called New World supposedly set North America on a course to civilization. Instead, French meticulously documents and sets out to amend "a centuries-long process of diminishment, trivialization, and erasure of Africans and of people of African descent from the story of the modern world." …

https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2022/02/black-history-books-zora-neale-hurston/622923/

The Future of the Supreme Court (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #411)

— What will the Supreme Court look like after Stephen Breyer's retirement? (2:36)

— Jerry Falwell, Jr. opened up about his past in a lengthy Vanity Fair profile. (13:45)

— A Mississippi mayor wants to withhold funds from the local library unless they purge all LGBTQ+ books. (30:47)

— A Georgia mayor's first act was to ask everyone to join him in communion. (37:06)

— An AME Zion bishop was arrested for defrauding churches of millions of dollars. (41:14)

— A pro-choice activist took an abortion pill on live TV to show how simple it is. (47:54)
Interview: 

https://audioboom.com/posts/8020646-ep-411-the-future-of-the-supreme-court

Here are 50 books Texas parents want banned from school libraries

Records requests uncovered dozens of attempts to remove library books from schools, nearly all related to titles dealing with racism, gender or sexuality...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-library-books-banned-schools-rcna12986