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Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 5h

During Banned Books Week, AHA is celebrating the written works that have dared to offend, enlighten or simply ask too many excellent, awkward questions. Check out their staff favorites.

The Banned Books Our Staff Love and Recommend - TheHumanist.com

Works that have dared to offend, enlighten or simply ask too many excellent, awkward questions.

thehumanist.com

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 6h

Writer Leyla Rose wants “to live with my heart unguarded but grounded, my words unpolished but real... We are all works in progress pretending to be masterpieces."

The Age of Manufactured Awe: Can Wonder Survive in a Synthetic World? - TheHumanist.com

We are all works in progress pretending to be masterpieces.

thehumanist.com

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 6h

Unbiased Science followed up with a detailed debunking of Kennedy’s comments here: theunbiasedscipod.substack.com/p/vaccines-t...

Vaccines, Tylenol, and Circumcision?!

JUST THE TIP of what’s wrong with these autism claims

theunbiasedscipod.substack.com

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 6h

If you weren’t already convinced that “RFK Jr. + Live Microphone = Bad Idea,” The Daily Beast spotlights some of the Health Secretary’s latest nonsense from yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

RFK Jr. Ties Autism to Circumcision and Tylenol in Bonkers Rant

The Health Secretary also accused some pregnant women of having “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

www.thedailybeast.com

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Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 6h

During a hearing this week, the court’s theocrats made clear they’ll vote to end a ban on conversion therapy for minors.

The Supreme Court Wants to Convert Your Kids

During a hearing this week, the court’s theocrats made it clear that they’ll vote to end a ban on conversion therapy for minors.

www.thenation.com

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Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 12h

George Takei, Banned Books Week 2025 Honorary Chair

"Those who ban books want to lock away ideas they fear. But in truth, they are trying to steal our freedom: our freedom to choose what we read and what our children read. Our freedom to learn our…

www.youtube.com

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Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 1d

Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m. ET (Virtual): "Ongoing Threats to Church-State Separation and AU’s Legal Response." AU Constitutional Litigation Fellow Luke Anderson will give a timely discussion of AU’s current legal cases, with a particular focus on public-education cases.

AU Orange County Chapter presents Luke Anderson, AU Constitutional Litigation Fellow · Americans United for Separation of Church and State

## Luke Anderson speaking on # **On-Going Threats to Church/State Separation and AU’s Legal Response** Discussion of AU’s current legal cases, with a particular focus on public-education cases. He…

www.mobilize.us

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 1d

Why aren’t more elected officials turning Donald Trump’s assault on the basic rights of both noncitizens and citizens into a major national scandal?

Where Is Politicians’ Urgency Over Donald Trump’s ICE Raids?

Why aren’t more elected officials turning Donald Trump’s assault on the basic rights of both noncitizens and citizens into a major national scandal?

jacobin.com

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 1d

Faux fish blood could protect ice cream and cancer medications from freezer burn.

Fake fish blood may save your ice cream from freezer burn

More importantly, it could help preserve life-saving cancer medications.

www.popsci.com

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 1d

These methane-gobbling microbes from the ocean floor could help curb climate change.

The Very Hungry Microbes That Could, Just Maybe, Cool the Planet

They feast on bubbles of methane seeping out of the ocean floor. Could their appetites be harnessed to slow climate change?

www.nytimes.com

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 1d

To shine a light on our nation’s cruel expansion of mass incarceration, Vera created a new interactive data tool, the ICE Detention Trends dashboard. It reveals an unprecedented level of detail about ICE detention populations.

More People Are in Immigration Detention Than Ever Before

Vera’s research reveals what ICE is not sharing with the public and the vast scale and human cost of Trump’s immigration agenda.

www.vera.org

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 1d

Journalist Radley Balko examines how Trump’s war on immigrants merges and expands the lethal policies of the wars on drugs and terror.

Trump’s War on Drugs

Journalist Radley Balko examines how Trump’s war on immigrants merges and expands the lethal policies of the wars on drugs and terror.

theintercept.com

Reposted by Washington Area Secular Humanists

Hemant Mehta @friendlyatheist.com · 1d

Conservative Christians asked donors for $500,000 for their newest project: a "non-political" talk show hosted by a guy who air-quotes "President" Biden.

Spoiler: The show bombed. None of the cash paid for comedy writers.

www.friendlyatheist.com/p/the-christ...

The Christian Right tried to make a late-night talk show—and it bombed spectacularly

Eric Metaxas and his backers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to copy Fallon and Kimmel. They forgot to hire talent.

www.friendlyatheist.com

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Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 1d

Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill called for the MMR vaccine to be broken up into individual shots because…reasons?

Acting CDC director calls to 'break up' the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three shots

Individual vaccines for each virus aren't available in the U.S., and no published scientific evidence shows a benefit to separating the combined vaccine.

www.nbcnews.com

Reposted by Washington Area Secular Humanists

American Humanist Association @americanhumanist.bsky.social · 2d

This week in The Humanist: when lawmakers use religion as a blunt tool to define "decency," they weaponize faith against difference, empowering the state to police our private lives.
https://thehumanist.com/news/national/a-history-of-gendered-censorship-and-the-costs-of-faith-based-porn-panics

A History of Gendered Censorship and the Costs of Faith-Based ‘Porn' Panics - TheHumanist.com

Bigotry rebranded as moral purity.

thehumanist.com

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Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 1d

Paul Offit highlights some of the misinformation Kennedy has chosen to amplify, namely the absurd notion that “vaccines don’t save lives.”

RFK Jr.: “Vaccines Don’t Save Lives”

In a recent post on X, RFK Jr. said that vaccines are overrated.

pauloffit.substack.com

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 2d

On Monday, two organizations for professional psychiatrists “joined other public health groups in calling for the removal of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary.”

Psychiatrists call for RFK Jr. to be replaced as health secretary

Two groups are calling for new leadership at HHS after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s actions on substance abuse treatment and mental health medications, among other issues.

www.npr.org

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Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 2d

Rather than combating the rapid spread of health misinformation with facts and clarity, Kennedy is amplifying it. The consequences aren’t abstract. They are measured in lives lost, disease outbreaks and an erosion of public trust that will take years to rebuild.

Opinion | Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr.

We took an oath to declare dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 2d

Report from the Center for American Progress detailing “How the Supreme Court Is Dismantling the Separation of Church and State.”

"A majority of current Supreme Court justices now champion a vision of religion that diverges significantly from that of the founders."

How the Supreme Court Is Dismantling the Separation of Church and State

Chief Justice John Roberts’ court is actively eroding the separation of church and state, breaking with centuries of First Amendment jurisprudence.

www.americanprogress.org

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 2d

In important ways the Trump brand of authoritarianism contains hallmarks of totalitarianism in seeking to ensure that there is only one permissible way to think.

Are We on the Road to a Totalitarian US? | Common Dreams

In important ways the Trump brand of authoritarianism contains hallmarks of totalitarianism in seeking to ensure that there is only one permissible way to think..

www.commondreams.org

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 2d

“Science and expertise have taken a back seat to ideology and misinformation,” the former surgeons general warned.

Former Surgeons General Say It's Their Duty to Warn of 'Profound' Threat RFK Jr. Poses to Americans | Common Dreams

Former US surgeons general warn that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. poses a threat to public health with anti-vaccine views and misinformation.

www.commondreams.org

Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 2d

Despite US backsliding, solar and wind generated more electricity than coal worldwide for the first time this year.

Renewables Surging Worldwide—But Going Backward in US Under Trump | Common Dreams

Despite US backsliding, solar and wind generated more electricity than coal worldwide for the first time this year.

www.commondreams.org

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Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 3d

Deedee Redletter traces eerie parallels between the 1920s and our own tumultuous decade — where technology, fascism, and resistance intertwine in unsettlingly familiar ways.

Odds and ends: The roaring twenty-twenties

We're repeating historical patterns from a hundred years ago, in more ways than one.

onlys.ky

Reposted by Washington Area Secular Humanists

Hemant Mehta @friendlyatheist.com · 4d

Fan-freaking-tastic.

Keep it going, Oklahoma. It can only get better from here.

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 4d

THE CHICKENS ARE FINALLY COMING HOME TO ROOST

Ryan Walters is out & the investigation floodgates just opened. The Oklahoma AG launched a full audit of Walters’ entire tenure as Superintendent, and it’s about damn time.

Also the education dept website’s being scrubbed of his culture-war nonsense.
🧵

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Washington Area Secular Humanists @wash1989.bsky.social · 3d

A recent feature in the Washington Post interviewed a dozen adults who went unvaccinated as kids (thanks to their parents’ anti-vaccine beliefs) about the fallout they're still dealing with.

Their parents never got them vaccinated. As young adults, they faced a choice.

Falling vaccination rates around the country mean more will grow up without protection from debilitating diseases until they are old enough to decide for themselves, typically at age 18.

www.washingtonpost.com