Serious Inquiries Only
Join Thomas for some critical thinking on questions of science, philosophy, skepticism and politics. These serious topics are discussed with some serious guests, but in an entertaining and engaging way! This is not your typical interview podcast; it's a friendly dialogue, conducted thoughtfully and with plenty of humor. It's Serious Inquiries Only; but like, not boring or anything.
Listen on
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
iHeart
PatreonEpisodes
SIO78: More of Trump's Participation Trophies!
Thanks to Got Science? Podcast for supporting today's show! Listen and subscribe at gotsciencepodcast.org or in iTunes! It's another deep dive into Trump's alleged accomplishments. This one covers fascinating and wide-ranging territory including immigration, the wall, regulations, coal miners, and more! I really do try to be as fair as possible. There are some things we can give Trump a bit of credit for. There are also outright lies and cons as well as idiotic misunderstandings on the part of the r/The_Donald listmaker. Links: 11. Police killings in decline, executive order meaningless. 12. Redefining the wall, Deportation problems, Trump deportations. 13. Senate passes NCAA, NCAA above cap levels. 14. Lobbying ban waivers, more on that. 15. Cartels order is nothing. 16. Trump's coal spin, Trump's not bringing back coal jobs. 17. Carrier deal pointless, jobs numbers are fake!, nothing to do with Intel factory, softbank deal. 18. NATO speech upsets team, NATO increases pre-date Trump. 19. Trump scraps good regulations. 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
SIO77: Stephanie Zvan on Anti-Harassment Policies and More
Stephanie is a writer for The Orbit, her blog Almost Diamonds can be found here. Stephanie was on the ground floor in terms of trying to get anti-harassment policies into the codes of conduct for skeptic and atheist conferences. We talk about the history of that, and then we discuss whether the atheist movement is worth saving or if we ought to abandon it altogether and start something new. Stephanie is also the organizer of Secular Women Work. 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
SIO76: Debunking Scott Adams on Trump
Scott Adams is the creator of Dilbert, and he also happens to be a Trump apologist to end all Trump apologists. He thinks Trump is the greatest persuader of people that has maybe ever lived, and he thinks half the country is in a mass hysteria and cognitive dissonance for not realizing that fact. You might have heard him on Sam Harris's podcast a while back and you might also have slammed your head into your desk a few times. In a couple recent blog posts, Scott references a list of Trump's incredible achievements. He alleges that lefties like me won't be able to fit this list into their worldviews and will have to pretend it doesn't exist. Let's see how this list holds up! Scott Adams blog 1, 2, pipelines, 100 ways Trump is hurting women, the women's council that is MIA, Trump's 2 for 1 regulation thing sucks, Trump hasn't followed through on HBCUs. I was on the Mythicist Milwaukee Podcast discussing the conference which I'll be appearing at this month. Check them out here. 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com Direct Download
SIO75: Dr. Roberta Chevrette on Feminism and Gender Studies
Today's episode is brought to you by Hello Fresh! Go to hellofresh.com and enter promo code seriouspod30 for $30 off your first week of deliveries! At long last, I finally have someone with expertise in the field of Gender Studies to ask about the Conceptual Penis Hoax and more! Dr. Roberta Chevrette completed her Ph.D in Communication and a graduate certificate in Gender Studies at Arizona State University in July 2016. She holds a BA in Anthropology and Women's Studies from Sacramento State University. Here is Roberta's academic site: http://www.robertachevrette.com/ Also, Roberta will be playing her music at California Freethought Day in Sacramento! Here's one of her songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTQkUp6jzuw. Also check out the website for the event here. I will also be there, so I'll be excited to see you if you can make it! 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
SIO74: Interview with a Dreamer on #DACA
I once again interrupt my regularly scheduled whatever in order to bring you an interview with an undocumented immigrant, Christian. Christian is currently working under DACA and if the program is ended, he won't be able to work anymore, short of under the table/off the books jobs. He tells us his story and what exactly DACA means for him. 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
SIO73: FGM in the UK, with Chantelle
I'm joined by Chantelle Boduel, who recently completed her Masters in Human Rights Law at the University of Kent in Brussels. She did her thesis on FGM in the UK, and I thought it would be very educational to have her on to speak about what she learned. See the attached Word document for her sources. FGM-Sources 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
SIO72: But Didn't Obama Pardon Terrorists?
Today I'm talking about the Arpaio pardon - how awful Arpaio is as a human, what he did that was so egregious, what he was found guilty of, and how he compares to some other historically bad pardons. Isn't it true that Obama pardoned some people who were WAY WORSE??? I investigate. Also, some great voicemails allow me the chance to talk about my appearance on wethepeoplelive - Josh Zepps' show - and the whitelash that resulted. Additionally, I need to correct some statistic related mistakes I made on Monday's episode. Master Tweet Thread of Arpaio Shittiness; 538 Article on the Pardon; WaPo Article on the Pardon; Slate Piece on Manning Commutation; Obama's Clemency Initiative; Forbes on Tech Job Deficit 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
SIO71: That Whole Google Memo Thing with Felicia Entwistle
Today I'm joined by Felicia Entwistle of the Utah Outcasts to talk about that Google memo and the science of gender differences. I think we did a good job of representing the nuance of the science and outlining some of the fallacies in the discourse over this whole thing. Lots of links! Original Memo With Links; NPR Why Women Stopped Coding; Justices Interrupted; Gender Differences Study; Another Gender Differences Study; Women Face More Stress; Stress Study; Women from Google; Sexism in Tech; Debra So Article 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
SIO70: WTF Sam Harris
Sam once again had Douglas Murray on his show and they both said some incredibly ignorant things, in my opinion. The worst was Sam's condemnation of Black Lives Matter. He provided absolutely no facts about it or insights into his reasoning, something I would think you'd want to do before making a claim like that. I play a few clips and try to get to the bottom of this "Identity Politics" bogeyman. Identity Politics Interview; Douglas Murray - Gentrified Xenophobia; Criminal Justice Fact Sheet; WaPo on Incarceration; ACLU and Guns 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
SIO69: Malaysian Officials Want To Hunt Down Atheists
You might have seen the news around Skeptic circles that Malaysian government officials want to hunt down members of an atheist group after a picture of a meetup went viral. Here's some coverage of it from Patheos. Well it turns out a long-time listener and friend of the show, Adrian, lives in Malaysia and is a member of the Atheist Republic group there! He's on today to tell us about so-called religious freedom in Malaysia, and what happened with this viral photo! Penalty for Leaving Islam is Death; Lina Joy's Case 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
SIO68: On Many Sides in Charlottesville and the ACLU with Charone Frankel
I've got some thoughts about Charlottesville, and then Charone Frankel of Habeas Humor to talk about whether the ACLU holds any responsibility for Nazi movements in America, since they've defended them in the past (and had a small hand in the Charlottesville case). Confederate Monuments Ward Churchill: - Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chicken https://cryptome.org/ward-churchill.htm - ACLU brief https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/ward-churchill-v-university-colorado-et-al-amicus-brief Habeas humor: habhumor.libsyn.com 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
SIO67: Andrew Torrez on The Crime Bill and Broken Window Theory
This episode is brought to you by Hello Fresh! Go to hellofresh.com and enter promo code seriouspod30 for $30 off! Andrew Torrez of the impossibly famous podcast Opening Arguments is here to talk about the Crime Bill of 1994 and some surrounding issues! Hillary was blamed for supporting this bill, by Bernie Bros, despite the fact that she wasn't in the Senate and the time and Bernie actually VOTED for the bill. The conversation will be continued on tomorrow's Opening Arguments Podcast because we're doing a super cool crossover thingy! Here is who voted on the crime bill: https://votesmart.org/bill/votes/8585#.WZDy91GGOUl And here's Bernie talking about the crime bill, it's the third full paragraph that begins "The second bill...." https://www.congress.gov/crec/1995/01/26/modified/CREC-1995-01-26-pt1-PgE192-5.htm 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com Direct Download
SIO66: North Korea and the REAL Trump
This episode is brought to you by Hello Fresh! Go to hellofresh.com and enter promo code seriouspod30 for $30 off! With the leak of some phone call transcripts we discover that the REAL Trump is...... the same Trump we've seen this entire time. There's no real Trump, there's just Trump. I go over some of the absolutely horrific details of these phones calls, then I talk about how Tillerson has gutted the State Department at the worst possible time, and all that is just as we face a nuclear North Korea! Fun times! Links: The Call Transcripts; Understanding Trade Deficits; Australia-US Refugee Deal; Gutted State Department Source 1, 2, 3 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com Direct Download
SIO65: Alix Jules Part Deaux
Alix is back for another fascinating conversation! He answers my questions on The New Jim Crow, and much more. The Counted 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
SIO64: No, Progressives Aren't Embracing Hate
But first, I give a little book review of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. The book illustrated some vital concepts that are often missing from our conversation on race. I share some highlights. Then, it's a voicemail segment during which I talk at length about a column a lot of people have been sharing lately. It's called When Progressives Embrace Hate and it talks about the leaders of the Women's March and their ties to some questionable people. Hollywood Harris Hit Piece; Article with Anti-Semitism Poll 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: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com