Serious Inquiries Only
Serious Inquiries Only (formerly Atheistically Speaking) is a podcast on science, philosophy, skepticism and politics! I want the podcast to continue being a place for everyone including myself to learn, sharpen opinions, and explore difficult ideas! Your amazing support has allowed me to podcast full time, which will only increase the production quality and push us in new directions!
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In late September, shortly after declaring antifa a "domestic terrorist", Trump issued a memorandum directing the IRS to investigate tax-exempt organizations that could be "directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism" and nonprofit organizations reasonably felt concerned of being targeted. A couple of weeks later, Lydia and Thomas ran into Nick Fish, President of the American Atheists, at California Freethought Day and asked how he and the organization were holding up in light of everything.
We're pleased to have Nick on to discuss what nonprofit organizations can do to protect themselves, as well as the people who have supported their mission and the communities they serve, when it is feeling less and less paranoid that the federal government might be coming for you. How can organizations fortify themselves through governing documents and organizational structure to donor databases and retention policies when the President of the United States could very well declare your nonprofit a supporter of domestic terrorism?
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Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence (NSPM-7) (9/25/2025)
Published: December 2, 2025
Dr. Jenessa Seymour is on to teach us more about the brain! What do hallucinations, ear-worms, and phantom limbs have in common? And is "hallucinating" really a good term for what AI does when it makes something up?
Published: November 26, 2025
Part 2 of Asra Nomani's insanely terrible Fox News article. Make sure you listened to part 1!
This is big, folks. Think Watergate combined with Deflate-gate combined with Christina Applegate combined with the Bowling Green Massacre. THAT's how big of a scandal this is.
You thought Zohran Mamdani was just an innocent 34 year old assemblyman who rose to stardom by being an incredibly good candidate and relentless campaigning an economic message in a positive way. But you were an idiot. Dummy.
Asra Nomani broke it here, but let Jenessa and I explain it to you because clearly your feeble, gullible brain can't process. information properly.
Published: November 5, 2025
Part 1. This is big, folks. Think Watergate combined with Deflate-gate combined with Christina Applegate combined with the Bowling Green Massacre. THAT's how big of a scandal this is.
You thought Zohran Mamdani was just an innocent 34 year old assemblyman who rose to stardom by being an incredibly good candidate and relentless campaigning an economic message in a positive way. But you were an idiot. Dummy.
Asra Nomani broke it here, but let Jenessa and I explain it to you because clearly your feeble, gullible brain can't process. information properly.
Published: November 4, 2025
Stormy Decisis AKA Dr. Alan Smerbeck is back! With multiple stories in the news of AI Chatbots potentially driving people to delusion or psychosis, Stormy wanted to explain to us what's going on and what the actual differences are between psychosis, delusions, schizophrenia, and more.
Visit Stormy's amazing project, sharebannedbooks.com!
Published: October 30, 2025
Previously, the leading theory was that kids with autism and/or ADHD had mental health struggles due to emotional regulation issues or other direct elements of their neurodivergence. But what if it's actually that they have to deal with more stressors than the other kids? Dr. Jenessa Seymour, fellow haver of ADHD, is here to break it down for us!
This is a 2-parter! Get part 2 on patreon.com/seriouspod, or just wait a little!
Published: October 24, 2025
***This is a two-parter. Listen to part 1!
Previously, the leading theory was that kids with autism and/or ADHD had mental health struggles due to emotional regulation issues or other direct elements of their neurodivergence. But what if it's actually that they have to deal with more stressors than the other kids? Dr. Jenessa Seymour, fellow haver of ADHD, is here to break it down for us!
Published: October 24, 2025
Part 2 of my thoughts and observations based on all the info I could gather on Tyler Robinson. I think there's an aspect to him that isn't being emphasized enough that might help explain why he did what he did.
Published: September 26, 2025
The public has gone through several phases of evolution on what the shooter's motive was. At first, it was assumed he was a leftwing terrorist. Then it seemed clear he was on the right. Or maybe nihilist. Then, the charging documents were released. These contained some selected texts with Robinson's transgender roommate who he seems to have been in a romantic relationship with. They are... weird. But what is going on here? What can we actually reasonably conclude at this time?
Published: September 22, 2025
Dr. Bryan Gillis is back after far too long! But instead of space, he's here to talk about the problems in academia that lead to women and minority groups being underrepresented at astonishing and depressing levels.
Published: September 9, 2025
Dr. Jenessa Seymour joins to discuss why TikTok's move here is aligned with what we know about eating disorders from the literature, and what happens when the internet doesn't draw a line like this.
Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here!
Please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!
Published: September 3, 2025
Lydia and I invite one of our good friends, Holly, to share her recent viral story of harassment at a public park in Glendale, California. We discuss what happened that day, the spread and impact of the video, as well as the broader issue at hand and how it has shifted with a new Trump administration coming into office.
After the main show, Holly sticks around for a special discussion for patrons only because Lydia has A LOT to talk about after recently seeing Thunder From Down Under in Las Vegas (with Holly)! How exactly did a male exotic dance show lead to Lydia feeling so much girl power and sisterhood? What lessons can be learned from that experience?
Note: As Holly mentions in the episode, her TikTok account was stolen and the original video is unfortunately gone. However, here's the reply from Danesh which includes the video in full: https://www.tiktok.com/@thatdaneshguy/video/7524505778430971150?lang=en
Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here!
Please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!
Published: August 29, 2025
... what? Yep that's right. They say there is no college affordability crisis. And I guess then, presumably no student debt crisis as well? You can read for yourself here, and/or you can sit back and let Dr. Jenessa Seymore break down why this article is so... incorrect.
Published: August 1, 2025
We had like, a mini war over Iran's nuclear situation and it is barely even a memory in today's news cycle. But what happened there? Did Iran have nuclear weapons? What does it take for them to make some? Was Obama's Iran Nuclear Deal good? And what happened after it was no longer in place? What might happen now?
Joining is Evan McDonell, a former nuclear engineer with the US Naval nuclear program to give us the breakdown!
Published: August 1, 2025
Part 1: The Legal Stuff
Dr. Jenessa Seymour is here to break down something that even our moms are spreading on social media: a group in New York claims to have uncovered discrepancies in the vote count for the 2024 election, and they're suing over it! Dr. Seymour hits ALL of the expert boxes for this one - statistics, voting rights, the law, and New York.
Want part 2 early? Head to Patreon.com/seriouspod!
Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here!
This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.
Published: July 1, 2025
