Serious Inquiries Only

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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