Category: Podcast

Episode 209 – Potpourri

This episode’s topics include: Richard Dawkins has been deplatformed from speaking at UC Berkeley because of speech hurtful to Muslims; Dan Arel’s journey to demented delusion takes him beyond CJ Werleman in nuthattery in a new article claiming the so-called “new atheists” are “white nationalists”; death threats are the norm du jour for a new liberal mosque in Berlin; in Britain, the NHS makes plans to scrap coverage of useless homeopathic prescriptions; Women’s March wishes terrorist Assata Shakur a happy birthday; In Catholic Watch, a new report claims that 547 children were physically abused at the Catholic Regensburger Domspatzen choir school in Bavaria and a pair of officials at a children’s hospital in will be in a Vatican court as defendants on charges of embezzling donated funds to finance the renovation of a senior cardinal’s apartment; the new Doctor Who has changed genders, and not all fans are pleased.

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Episode 207 – Potpourri

Christine joins me this week for another potpourri episode. Topics include the latest craze in woo athletic enhancement called cryotherapy (save your money and weight for winter and just run in and out of the house…); is Serena Williams the greatest tennis star of all time? We have reaction from tennis bad boy John McEnroe’s take; and my interviews with masked counterprotestors at an anti-Muslim rally.

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Episode 208 – Guest Dr. Gleb Tsipursky

We are joined this week by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky (http://glebtsipursky NULL.com/). Gleb is a professor at Ohio State University, and serves as the President of Intentional Insights, a nonprofit devoted to popularizing truth-oriented behavior, rational thinking, and wise decision-making in public discourse. This is the focus of the Pro-Truth Pledge (https://www NULL.protruthpledge NULL.org/), a project that aims to reverse the tide of lies and promote truth in public discourse through combining behavioral science and crowd-sourcing. He is the author of Find Your Purpose Using Science, and has a new book forthcoming in 2018, The Alternative to Alternative Facts: Fighting Post-Truth Politics with Behavioral Science. He has also written pieces for Time, Scientific American, Psychology Today, The Conversation, Salon, Truthout, The Huffington Post and reason-oriented venues such as The Humanist, Skeptical Inquirer, Free Inquiry, American Atheist Magazine, Secular World, and Patheos.

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Episode 206 – Potpourri

Join us as we bring you our take on a number of news stories we consider within our purview. In this edition for June 18, 2017 we find that over half of Canadians believe that religion is a force for harm and we wonder what the hell is wrong with the rest; a new creationist dinosaur museum opened this weekend in Innisfail, Alberta where no expense regarding historical accuracy was spared, including a laser tag facility themed with an ancient city being invaded by dinosaurs; in Ontario, a court rules that students no longer have to provide a reason for opting out of religion classes in Catholic schools; and in The Regressive Left Files… indigenous peoples of some 189 countries petition a United Nations committee to make cultural appropriation illegal. Lastly, we look at lawsuits from both pro and con sides of medical assistance in dying in Canada that can only be traced to crappy federal legislation. But first, welcome back Twyla!

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Episode 205 – Potpourri with guest co-host Shane Plesiuk

Long-time friend Shane Plesiuk joins us to talk about religion and atheism in Calgary’s gay community and share his thoughts on a number of stories in this episode of the Legion of Reason Diversion, including:

  • the despicable witch hunt of Bret Weinstein at so-called progressive Evergreen State College;
  • faux pas by comedienne Kathy Griffin and comedian Bill Maher;
  • Islamic apologist Linda Sarsour speaks at the commencement ceremony at CUNY;
  • Denmark abolishes its blasphemy law (ahem, Justin Trudeau…);
  • things women put in their vaginas;
  • and we finish with some thoughts on the London terror attacks.

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Episode 204 – Guests James Lindsay and the Indefatigable Rhonda

We have two interviews to bring you today. The first is with James Lindsay who, along with his partner in crime Peter Boghossian, recently hoaxed Cogent Social Sciences with a paper chalking climate change up to toxic masculinity and claiming manspreading was an act of raping the air around them. We ask James about why this was done and we test our bullshit detectors with little quiz at the end.

Our second guest is Rhonda, the other half of this household’s duo, who just returned from Ghana where she was volunteering as a nurse. Rhonda gives us her first-hand experiences of the pervasiveness of religion in that part of the world.

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Episode 203 – Potpourri

In this episode, we look at a Sokal-style hoax perpetrated by James Lindsay and Peter Boghossian on a gender studies journal exposing gender studies’ problems publishing utter drivel (http://www NULL.skeptic NULL.com/reading_room/conceptual-penis-social-contruct-sokal-style-hoax-on-gender-studies/) so long as it is compatible with a PC moral position; In Islam Today, an unmarried couple in Linda Sarsour’s idea of paradise were stoned to death (https://www NULL.theguardian NULL.com/world/2017/may/17/unmarried-couple-stoned-to-death-mali-islamic-law) because they violated Islamic law, and Saudi citizen Dina Ali (http://www NULL.newsweek NULL.com/campaign-save-saudi-dina-ali-lasloom-590282) was returned to her country of origin by Philippine authorities in her attempt to escape her family; Atheist Tom Hicks of Chesterfield, Virginia angers Christians by displaying a bible verse (http://wtvr NULL.com/2017/05/15/bible-verse-truck-sparks-outrage/) on the tailgate of his truck; Finally, in The Regressive Left Files, a Yale college dean is placed on leave (https://www NULL.washingtonpost NULL.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/05/18/yale-dean-placed-on-leave-after-writing-about-white-trash-and-other-insulting-comments/) after making racist restaurant reviews on Twitter, and a University of Hawaii mathematics professor demands white male colleagues quit (http://blogs NULL.ams NULL.org/inclusionexclusion/2017/05/11/get-out-the-way/) to make room for those belonging to oppressed minorities.

But first, we deal with an interview (http://www NULL.stitcher NULL.com/podcast/brainstorm-podcast/the-hardcore-skeptic-examines/e/social-justice-with-randy-tyson-50052368) yours truly, the Supreme Irreverend Doctor Randy Tyson, was involved in.

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Episode 202 – Potpourri with Guest Co-Host Kevin Francis

Welcome to the 202nd episode of LoRD, the Legion of Reason Diversion! Kris and yours truly, the Supreme Irreverend Doctor Randy Tyson, are joined by Kevin Francis from our friends at the Left at the Valley podcast (http://www NULL.leftatthevalley NULL.com/). In this episode, we look at a variety of stories, including the decision by the premier of Saskatchewan, Brad Wall, to invoke the rarely-used constitutional sledgehammer known as the “notwithstanding” clause to overrule a judge’s decision on non-Catholic students attending Catholic schools; the oppression of atheists continues around the world, with one atheist in Russia facing over three years in prison for playing Pokemon Go in a Russian Orthodox church and another sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for the crime of becoming a nonbeliever; the Catholic Church of Canada wants to consecrate this country to the Virgin Mary despite no one asking; in the Regressive Left Files we take a look at a modern-day witch hunt in academia; anthropologist Fuambi Ahamadu calls female genital mutilation “gender egalitarian surgery” on national tv; and finally, we cover more hijab nonsense.

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Episode 201 Pt 2 – Potpourri

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Episode 201 Pt 1 – Guest Cami Ryan

In this episode we are joined by Cami Ryan (https://camiryan NULL.com/), a social scientist with Regulatory Policy and Scientific Affairs for Monsanto. We also tackle a number of items:

In a far-reaching decision a Saskatchewan judge says non-Catholics can not attend Catholic schools;

A publicly-funded Catholic school in Red Deer shows an anti-choice video comparing abortion to the Holocaust;

Two Michigan doctors have been charged with “conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation”;

MAID for the mentally ill advocate Adam Maier-Clayton took his own life last week;

The Ontario government rejects so-called “conscience rights” for doctors opposed to MAID;

Pakistani student Mashal Khan is beaten to death by fellow students.

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