The problem with the University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos' statement is that it assumes these student protesters have rational arguments with which to persuade others. Their goal is disruption & destruction, not persuasion. Why?

Because they believe Israel and the…

You've heard of Limousine Liberals?
Meet Mercedes Maoists via Gerald Posner as he recounts his time at UC Berkeley & lessons therein:

'If there is anything I learned from my Berkeley student days, it is that the influence of a radicalized faculty sets the framework by which…

Student protesters won...long ago. Here is Richard Hofstadter, 1968, Columbia University commencement address:
“A university is a community, but it is a community of a special kind, a community devoted to inquiry. It exists so that its members may inquire into truths of all…

Curious about what is driving the pro-Palestine college riots/protests? We are too.

According to our polling (see charts below):

1) 43% of GenZ believe the Israeli government advocates for white supremacy.

2) 20% (a fifth) of GenZ believe Jews secretly control US society.…

Losing My Religion
From Elder in the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion to proponent of scientific naturalism, by Michael Bigelow,
guest contributor to this week's Skeptic.
This is what can happen if you examine a Google Earth image in biblical chronology...
open.substack.com/pub/michaelshe…

Amusing when a comedian/talk show host announces 'it's time to talk about UFOs' as if this is an edgy new thing no one else is brave enough to broach.
“There needs to be room for honest inquiry” says Last Week Tonight “because science is all about collecting small answers that…

BTW, I helped design that V1-Pro Bell Helmet.
They were my sponsor for RAAM.
No serious cyclist would wear their geeky looking white helmet so I gave them my old leather hairnet & told them to make it look like that.
In between: the Skid-Lid (me 1979, Seattle to San Diego)

Someone just sent me this ebay page.
ebay.com/itm/3148180126…
Thanks a lot Herb! I'm only worth $24.65?!

I get mail:

Michael,
Do you think it's harder being a Christian obeying Church rules or an atheist doing whatever one wants all the time?
Thanks, Brian

My response:

Brian,

What makes you think we atheists can do “whatever one wants all the time”?

Counterfactually, if you…

RIP Mike Ward, Rock guitarist & great cyclist
Wallflowers' 1996's Bringing Down the Horse & 2000's Breach—nominated for 5 Grammy Awards
Won in 1998 for best rock performance by a duo/group with vocal for The Wallflowers' hit One Headlight.
Wrote a children's book Mike and the…

A classic critique of religious claims on land:

“God is my title company—it says right here in his holy book that this land is mine.”

What happens when 2 people each claim the land & invoke God as the arbiter?

Brilliant Nina Paley !

(Music from the film Exodus, Andy Williams)

I wrote a book about this problem: Why Darwin Matters, debunking Intelligent Design creationism but also the Cognitive Creationism of the left, who believe evolution applies only from the neck down. I show that conservatives have a more accurate view of human nature.

Yup

Thanks for the RT Elon Musk
Our Skeptic Research Center team is doing ground-breaking research on controversial current events, attitudes & beliefs.
Here it's possible depressed people gravitate toward race cynicism, but more likely the causal arrow points the other direction.

We've long been documenting disturbing and perplexing trends in younger generations with regard to (see charts below):

1) Believing racial minorities in America have no hope for success

2) Believing 'white people' have more to be ashamed of than other racial groups

3)…