Justice?, Controversy, The Warehouse and more...

12th June 2023

Hi there

This is going to be my last newsletter for a little while.

My wife and I will be off on a big trip tomorrow, starting in the USA, where I’ll be attending a technical conference in Salt Lake City, and then we’re up to Vancouver for a few days, then back to Salt Lake City for a few days, then up to Calgary to commence a two week trip through The Rockies then home again. I’m excited for the trip, and to see parts of the world I’ve not yet seen. Though, I’m hoping that the current wildfires in Canada don’t impact us. Apparently, they’re 1500% above “normal”.

During my trip, I’m going to meet up with one of the leaders of a skeptics group in Utah, and also meet up with some skeptics in Calgary, so that will be fun to hear about their perspectives on things.

No doubt I’ll come back with some fun tales to tell relevant to skepticism, not the least from visiting Salt Lake City, the home of the Mormon church.

I’ll be leaving the newsletter in the capable hands of Mark Honeychurch and Bronwyn Rideout and other contributors, who I know will do a sterling job. They’ll also be running the podcast, with associated guests to fill the hole that I’ll leave.

This week I comment on the recent announcement of Trump’s indictment (again), further tease some of our conference speakers, write about controversy, and take a look at Brian Tamaki’s latest weirdness. And, Bronwyn has contributed another excellent item…

Anyway, on to the topics of the week… then, I’ll be packing my bags!

Craig Shearer

Justice is coming?

Craig Shearer - 12 June 2023

No doubt everybody knows about the news of late last week about the indictment of former US president Donald Trump on various federal charges relating to his wilful retention of classified documents, hiding documents, and obstruction of justice. In my opinion, this is a cause for celebration, that they've finally built a case that they can prosecute.

Our conference is coming up

Craig Shearer - 12 June 2023

Our conference is coming up

The last time I wrote the newsletter, I announced our NZ Skeptics conference happening in Dunedin on the weekend of 24th - 26th November, at Taito Otago Settlers Museum.

Controversy

Craig Shearer - 12 June 2023

A few weeks back I published an item that reviewed the book A Manual for Creating Atheists, by Peter Boghossian.

Scientology and New Zealand

Bronwyn Rideout - 12 June 2023

Scientology and New Zealand

The further I explore the rabbit hole of fringe groups, the more I find out about the kiwis who were a large part of the fabric of these organisations - men like William Chesterman (BOTA) and David Mayo (Scientology), who made significant contributions to their respective organisations. Or, the variety of kiwis who earned the appellation of first New Zealander to establish the first New Zealand branch of an overseas religion or spiritual group of their choosing