Bangladesh authorities have charged six people with the 2015 murder of Avijit Roy. bdnews24 reports:
Among the six accused in the murder are alleged Ansarullah Bangla Team leader and sacked military officer Major Syed Ziaul Haq and ‘militant blogger’ Safiur Rahman Farabi.
Five other suspects are still being sought, but have not been identified. I take all of this with many grains of salt.
Turns out Russian malefactors may have helped flame the fires of antivax paranoia on Facebook. Facebook and Google are being pressured to do something about misinformation like this.
The Catholic dioceses of New Jersey release a list of 188 priests and deacons who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children. However, as North Jersey Record reports:
Most of the priests on the lists have died, though 79 are living. Bishops said in letters that none of the priests are working in their dioceses.
Soooooooooo maybe we also should look into the ones that are alive and kicking?
Meanwhile, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick? You just got UN-FROCKED. The Post reports:
It is the most significant abuse-related punishment given to a former cardinal in the modern history of the Roman Catholic Church.
In a short statement, the Vatican said a canonical process had found McCarrick guilty of two charges: soliciting sex during confession and committing “sins” with minors and adults “with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.”
Ball State University’s student magazine, Ball Bearings, has a great little piece on how CFI Indiana provides “an alternative for those who want … community without following a religion.”
Missouri’s Supreme Court rules that the beliefs of the Satanic Temple aren’t burdened by the state’s “informed consent” antiabortion laws.
Louisiana’s News Star covers the debate over “so help me God” in House Committee oaths, heavily citing the CFI’s efforts to keep this particular ball in the air.
Tennessee now has a hate crimes statute to protect transgender individuals. Tennessee!
Miracle Hill Ministries, the foster agency that got the go-ahead to discriminate, is being sued by one of the would-be parents they stiffed, a Catholic.
What happens when you combine the Vatican with the Templeton Foundation? A big conference that asks what’s up with all the atheists? Sign me up for that party.
Speaking of the Vatican, it apparently has one of the biggest gay subcultures in the world. I know, you’re shocked. Via the AP, French journalist Frederic Martel’s new book In the Closet at the Vatican “calls out the hypocrisy of Catholic bishops and cardinals who in public denounce homosexuality but in private lead double lives.”
Oh, also, the Vatican has secret rules for priests who procreate.
Maybe you’re worried about “creeping Shariah” in America, but American imams are actually all get-off-my-lawn over Amercian Muslims’ liberalization.
Julia Belluz at Vox reports on the recent measles outbreaks and how they show that the era of religious and moral exemptions to vaccines has to end right now.
A Fox News poll says 25 percent of Americans think God wanted Trump to be president. Seems to me that if you believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing creator being that runs every aspect of the universe, you have to believe that he wanted Trump to be president. So that number is too low.
At RNS, Tara Isabella Burton looks at Wiccan culture, and how it is both a way to channel political resistance (hexing Kavanaugh, for example) and a big business.
Joe Nickell looks at yet another purported case of spontaneous human combustion, one in which people seem to think that people exploding for no reason is more likely than someone’s clothes catching fire.
In Florida (oh yeah get ready) an 11-year-old boy is arrested for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in school. Technically he was arrested for “being disruptive” and whatnot. But, you know, the teacher told him to go back where he came from (Cuba), thus bolstering the student’s original grievance, that the flag, to him, represents racism.
Nautilus interviews Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, philosophers of science and co-authors of The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread.
Nebraska, please reconsider the political career of one State Sen. Mike Groene. Holy moly. He’s just…I dunno. Just read this.
Ben Radford reviews the film The Prodigy, and to my disappointment, it’s not about the 1990s online service (so many slow-loading memories), but rather, standard “evil kid” fare.
Rob Palmer wraps up his Skeptic’s Guide interview series with a chat with Jay Novella.
Hey, Steve Salzberg, does RoundUp cause cancer?
Quick answer: probably not.
Well then I know what I’m having for breakfast.
Quote of the Day
therapist: i think it’s time we finally acknowledge the elephant in the room
me: ok. hi, ganesh.
ganesh: at last. hello.
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Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is.