Paul Fidalgo, Center for Inquiry

Paul Fidalgo

Center for Inquiry

Maine, United States

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Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • Center for Inquiry
  • Medium
  • Android Police
  • Patheos
  • HuffPost

Past articles by Paul:

Let Kids of Anti-Vaxx Parents Consent to Vaccinations, CFI Tells D.C. Council

Children have the right to protection from preventable infectious diseases, even if their parents are unwilling to provide that protection in the form of officially recommended vaccinations. That’s why the Center for Inquiry is urging D.C. lawmakers to pass the Minor Consent for Vaccinations Ame ... → Read More

It Starts to Feel True

Yes, yes, we'll get to the Big Thing is a second. First! On the next Skeptical Inquirer Presents on October 8, Sasha Sagan will talk about how nonbelievers can find meaning in the cosmos. Sign up now. Okay, now the Big Thing. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive ... → Read More

Trouble, Trebled

You already know. Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday night. We'll have more to say later today, but it's a punch to the gut. No, it's a battering ram to the gut. Let's meet the person who seems to be at the top of the list to replace Ginsburg, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. RNS say ... → Read More

Apocalypse Always

We have filed our appeal against the dismissal of our case against Walmart and their deceptive sale of homeopathic snake oil: “Walmart knows homeopathy doesn’t work,” said Little. “The confusion it causes consumers is intentional. The potential for harm is obvious. And we will be happy to make t ... → Read More

The Absurd Logical Conclusion

The researchers who conducted the study showing discrimination against Muslims and atheists by school principals have an op-ed in the Post timed for the anniversary of 9/11: We found this discrimination against Muslims to be widespread and systematic across the United States, just as likely to o ... → Read More

Walk Around in Circles

Tonight! New Skeptical Inquirer Presents! Seema Yasmin! Viral BS! 7pm ET! Exclamation points! Register for it! There's a new episode of Point of Inquiry: Host Jim Underdown talks to Dr. Raymond Hall, the guy behind the popular Psysicsfun Instagram account, who says "physics is the real ... → Read More

Exacerbating Outpartisans

A court in Pakistan has sentenced Asif Pervaiz to death for "blasphemous" text messages sent in 2013. We have a new Secular Rescue success story we can share with you: "Jana," an ex-Muslim who we helped find safety fleeing oppression in Iraq. In the latest Skeptical Inquirer, ... → Read More

Crowbars and Hermit Crabs

WSJ: Here's why SARS-CoV-2 is such a tough nut for scientists to crack. "The coronavirus pries the cells open with a molecular structure called a spike protein that it uses like a crowbar to force entry." Big Pharma has concluded that Trump's vaccine promises are not good for ... → Read More

Legislating Sanity

The AP reports on the horrors endured by Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other minorities in China's Xinjiang region as the government enforces not only draconian "lockdown" measures, but forced pseudoscientific medication. Hard to read without needing to lie down. Peter Hamblin at The Atla ... → Read More

Traditionally Mask-uline (Get It?)

Carl Zimmer and Katie Thomas at NYT round up what is known about the CDC's claim that states need to get ready for a COVID-19 vaccine by next month. The timing, of course, feels suspicious. The CDC is being flooded with angry calls from folks who believe a QAnon lie, boosted by the presiden ... → Read More

Awkward, Contradictory, and Self-Defeating

Let's just open with this glorious, shining gem of a lede from Newsweek: Two flat-Earthers were forced to quarantine after trying to reach "the end of the world" during Italy's lockdown. Wait, wait, it gets better: Salvatore Zichichi, a doctor of the maritime health office of ... → Read More

Say No More

At the CFI blog: Ben Radford digs into the panic over rumors about "zip tie abductions" spread on social media. September 10 at 7pm ET: Skeptical Inquirer Presents features Seema Yasmin on "Viral BS" and medical myths. Register here. French satire publication Charlie Hebdo is ... → Read More

No Sleep for the Pious

According to a study from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, atheists get better sleep than the religious. This is ironic, because I sleep terribly overslept this morning, which is why the Heresy is so late today. The video of the Skeptical Inquirer Presents event with Carol Tavris on cogni ... → Read More

Jiggery-Pokery Redux

Yes, yes, the president said a bunch of stuff last night. But take a look at this. SHABAM: For the second time in a week, a federal judge issued a blistering ruling against a controversial rule by Betsy DeVos’s Education Department that directs states to give private schools a bigger share of fe ... → Read More

A Valiant Ford

This will wake you up. CNN: White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci said he was undergoing surgery and not in the August 20 task force meeting for the discussion on updated US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that suggest asymptomatic people may not need ... → Read More

An Aggressive Yank

New York Times: Mubarak Bala, president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, is still in custody for blasphemy and no one has seen him since his arrest. Plus, "Other nonbelievers are worried that these same lawyers are drawing up a list of other Nigerian atheists to be prosecuted and tha ... → Read More

Longing for Asteroids

Marci Hamilton at Verdict on the biggest obstacle to dealing with COVID-19: Now is the time to consider what barriers other than science stand in the way of herd immunity against this pandemic. The short answer is that the law stands in the way. Religious liberty statutes and religious/philosoph ... → Read More

The R-naught is Rising

It's a busy week of Zoom calls for CFI! On Wednesday, CFI Insider looks at the role of freethought and secularism in the women's suffrage movement, and on Thursday, Carol Tavris talks about cognitive dissonance in the pandemic era on Skeptical Inquirer Presents. The Teacher Institute f ... → Read More

Just Asking Questions Here

The final night of the Democratic Party's e-convention slathered on the god-talk, but also made room for us heathens: Sen. Chris Coons, the Democrats' unofficial see-we-are-religious guy, said that Joe Biden will "be a president for Americans of all faiths, as well as people of co ... → Read More

Just Making Stuff Up

On a new episode of the Point of Inquiry podcast, Leighann Lord talks to Erin Louis, "The Brazen Atheist," on critical thinking, media literacy, and a fostering a skeptical mindset. Last night's edition of the Democrats' quasi-convention finally gave airtime to the climate cr ... → Read More