Tag Archives: January 2015 Paris attacks

The January 2015 Paris attacks were a series of attacks by Islamic extremists in the Île-de-France region of France. Between the 7th and 9th of January, 2015, 3 perpetrators murdered 17 people and injured 22 others in 5 different attacks, starting with an attack at the headquarters of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that left 8 employees dead.

Jesus and Mo Wednesday

by | January 6, 2016

rag Here’s today’s Charlie Hebdo cover in its full glory:   Recommended reading: “The Scurrilous Lies Written about Charlie Hebdo” The anniversary of the 7 January attack on Charlie Hebdo is coming up. Whether you feel that Charlie is a symbol of freedom of expression or a scabrous hate sheet, you are about to be… Read more »

Joni Mitchell and Michael Ondaatje

by | April 29, 2015

For some reason, I conflated the news that Joni Mitchell may or may not be in a coma with the news that Michael Ondaatje has withdrawn from next month’s PEN American Center gala because PEN intends to honour the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo with a Freedom of Expression Courage Award. Maybe I conflated Mitchell and Ondaatje… Read more »

Garry Trudeau N’est Pas Charlie

by | April 16, 2015

I’ve never found Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury comic strip to be either laugh-out-loud funny or brilliantly incisive, and it’s been years since I read it at all regularly, but I do appreciate the strip’s wry, intelligent commentary on American politics when I happen to come across it. Trudeau isn’t an edgy or provocative cartoonist by the… Read more »

The Non-Conference 2015: A message from Spencer Lucas, Founder and Organizer

by | April 7, 2015

I launched The Non-Conference in November of 2014 with the rather bold intention that it would become an annual highlight in the atheist event calendar. With the success of the inaugural conference and the growing interest and excitement for the next, scheduled for August 2015, I am pleased to see that I was neither over-confident… Read more »

“News Media Have a Duty to Publish Controversial Cartoons”

by | February 24, 2015

Today, Atheist Freethinkers published a press release explaining why the media should publish the controversial Charlie Hebdo cartoons: For immediate release News Media Have a Duty to Publish Controversial Cartoons Montreal, February 24th 2015 — Atheist Freethinkers (LPA-AFT), an association which promotes secularism and supports the rights of atheists, denounces the odious attacks which claimed… Read more »

“Charlie, Copenhagen, the Niqab & that Odious Francis”

by | February 21, 2015

“Blog 051: Charlie, Copenhagen, the Niqab & that Odious Francis” by David Rand and posted on the Atheist Freethinkers website, is recommended reading. Rand is saddened and outraged by the killing of two people in Copenhagen on the 14th and 15th of February 2015: all available evidence indicates that we are dealing with yet another… Read more »