Annika Merkelbach

This week András sticks his neck out, announcing that he will give a talk at the upcoming CICAP Fest in Padua in September – in Italian!
We then learn about Margherita Hack who was a formidable Italian astronomer, skeptic and co-founder CICAP, we hear more interviews from SkepKon, curtesy of special correspondent Annika Merkelbach and hear how Cardinal Pell is trying to get out of his legal problem while Francis are creating new ones. Meanwhile the Vatican has spent a fortune to stop legal protection of child abuse victims in the US.
Britt Hermes has won her court case (yay!), Sweden has a big public debate regarding the future of religious free-schools and there is a promising Hungarian initiative to get critical thinking into the education system.
Several UK papers foolishly repeat nonsense from social media about a young woman’s death in the Netherlands, we push for the Fight-the-Fake campaign and celebrate that a fellow skeptic has been elected into the Danish parliament (‘Folketinget’).
Finally, the Polish minister of Agriculture promotes eating beaver, which sounds so much better than it is…

Segments:
Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; Interviews from SkepKon; Pontus Pokes the Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote; Outro; Out-takes

Events Calendar: https://theesp.eu/events_in_europe

00:00:27 Intro

00:00:51 Greetings

András is going to give a talk at CICAP Fest in Padua in September – in Italian!

• https://www.cicapfest.it/programma/114

00:05:13 This Week in Skepticism

Born on 12 June 1922: Margherita Hack, Italian astrophysicist and activist who was one of the most important in her field in Italy. She was also a co-founder of CICAP.

• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10183322/Margherita-Hack.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margherita_Hack

00:10:14 SkepKon interviews, by Annika Merkelbach

Two more interviews from SkepKon by our special on-site reporter, Annika Merkelbach. This week Dr. Anna Beniermann (@annabeniermann, mailto:Anna.beniermann@hu-berlin.de)
Dr. Holm Gero Hümmler (@hummler, quantenquark.com)

• https://www.skepkon.org/

00:15:34 Pontus Pokes the Pope

Pell’s appeal is going worryingly well, the abuse cases are too many to handle for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the Catholic Church has spent a fortune to stop legal protection of child abuse victims. And the Lord’s prayer has aparently been wrong for 2000 years.

• Catholic News Agency: Prosecution Falters During Cardinal Pell Appeal Hearing
• The Guardian: George Pell Appeal Prosecutor Struggles to Answer Judges Questions
• Catholic News Agency: Houston Case Raises Questions about Pope’s Reforms
• CBS News: Catholic Church Scandal – Spent 10 million on Lobbyists to Fight Extension Statutes of Limitations for Child Sex Abuse Vicims
• The Guardian: Pope Approves Change to Lord’s Prayer

00:20:56 Skeptical News

GERMANY: Britt Hermes wins court case initiated by cancer quack

• https://www.naturopathicdiaries.com/justice-prevails-cancer-quack-colleen-huber-loses-her-defamation-suit-against-me/

SWEDEN: Big debate regarding religious free schools after the recent scandals

• https://www.unt.se/ledare/skolministern-har-ratt-om-religion-i-skolan-5325520.aspx
• https://www.aftonbladet.se/debatt/a/4qrWOV/skamligt-inte-forbjuda-alla-religiosa-friskolor
• https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2019-06-06/inte-sa-latt-att-stoppa-religiosa-friskolor
• https://www.gp.se/debatt/religi%C3%B6sa-friskolor-saknar-laglig-och-etisk-grund-1.15470405
• https://www.metro.se/artikel/sanningen-bakom-den-virala-videon-om-matbluffar-i-16-punkter
• https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf

HUNGARY: Educational program to achieve a critical approach to media consumption

• http://www.urbanlegends.hu/2019/06/program-a-tudatos-mediahasznalatert-tanarok-jelentkezeset-varjuk/
• https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/europe/finland-fake-news-intl/

THE NETHERLANDS: No, a Dutch teenager did not get assisted euthanasia because of depression after being raped

• https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/social-media/2019/06/dutch-teen-noa-pothoven-wasnt-euthanised-euthanasia-netherlands-so-why-did-media-say-she

INTERNATIONAL: Fight the Fake website / compain

• http://fightthefakes.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Miriam-Haendler-Photo-Submission.jpg
• https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jun/05/fake-medicine-makers-blockchain-artificial-intelligence
• http://fightthefakes.org/updates/recap-of-our-ftf-digital-natives-fight-fake-medicines-side-event-during-the-wha72/
• https://www.farmatrust.com/

DENMARK: Danish General Election: Skeptic Stinus Lindgreen elected MP

• http://lyngby-taarbaek.lokalavisen.dk/nyheder/2019-06-07/-Radikale-fik-Stinus-Lindgreen-i-Folketinget-5126576.html
• https://www.msn.com/da-dk/nyheder/indland/kun-seks-naturvidenskabeligt-uddannede-i-folketinget/ar-AACx2oK
• https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/resultater/folketingsvalg

00:37:35 Really Wrong

Polish Minister of Agriculture wants to eat beaver (and not in the fun way)

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48557321

00:43:14 Quote and Goodbye
“The general root of superstition: namely, that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.

/ Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, QC, an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, essayist, and author /

00:44:18 Outro

00:45:33 Out-takes