AMERICAN HISTORY: “Support Indigenous Rights by Abolishing [Catholic] Columbus Day” / The Big Picture RT / Thom Hartmann ☮

Deborah Menkart, Teaching For Change/Zinn Education Project & Daniel Ruiz, Capital City Public Charter School, joins Thom. On Monday – millions of Americans will stay home from work and school to celebrate how Christopher Columbus committed genocide against the Taino people and launched the Transatlantic slave trade. Unfortunately – many Americans won’t know that it’s a celebration of genocide – because many Americans still don’t realize what actually happened when Columbus quote “discovered” America. Fortunately there are efforts moving forward across the country to celebrate “Indigenous People’s Day” instead of Columbus Day – with Phoenix, Arizona being the most recent city to recognize Indigenous People’s Day.

CRITICAL THINKING: “Those Seven Times Christopher Hitchens Nailed Everything” ☮

Attention: Hitchslap impact imminent! Articulate, brutally honest, and never afraid of a dangerous idea, Christopher Hitchens was a true intellectual maverick. Here are seven of his more memorable moments that stood out to me.

SCIENTIFIC LITERACY: “Anti-Science Politicians Endanger Us All” / Bill Nye ☮

Danger is at hand, and you may have voted for it. Science educator Bill Nye weaves a passionate argument for the importance of science literacy in a country’s elected leaders.

Read more at BigThink.com: http://bigthink.com/videos/bill-nye-o…

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE: “Alabama’s Ten Commandments Bigot Judge, Ray Moore, Suspended for Rest of Term for Defying Federal Judiciary Over Same-sex Marriage” ☮

ray-mooreThe Alabama Court of the Judiciary today suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore for the rest of his term in office.

The Court ruled that Moore violated the canons of judicial ethics by ordering Alabama’s probate judges to defy a federal court injunction requiring them to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on a non-discriminatory basis. This is the second time in 13 years that Moore has been sanctioned as a result of ethics complaints filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

h/t: SPLC

THE INTERNATIONAL CHILD RAPING ORGANIZATION, CATHOLIC CHURCH – EXORCISM: “A Day in the Life of a Modern American Exorcist” / VICE News ☮

The ancient rite of casting evil spirits from the possessed is on the rise in the United States. Historically, demonic possessions have been used to describe mental or physical illnesses and even strings of bad luck, but the scientific community has debunked many of the outdated convictions.

With the U.S. being home to 20 percent of the world’s exorcists, VICE investigates why the phenomenon of exorcism is on the rise. We speak to Father Lampert, a member of the International Association of Exorcists and Michael Shermer, former devotee of the Catholic Church and founder of Skeptic magazine, to see why the modern exorcism is thriving in the West.