Shadow of a Doubt - December 2017

The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics

• December 9 lecture - P. Andrew Torrez - Skepticism and the Law Or, How to Earn Billions With Your Birth Certificate AND Make Bernie Sanders President Using this ONE WEIRD TRICK
• January 20 lecture - Sharon Hill
• Something more to celebrate
• AmazonSmile: Thanks to our members who are supporting NCAS!
• Shadow Light
• Member renewals

NCAS Public Lecture Series

Skepticism and the Law
Or, How to Earn Billions With Your Birth Certificate
AND Make Bernie Sanders President
Using this ONE WEIRD TRICK

 

P. Andrew Torrez
Law Offices of P. Andrew Torrez

Saturday, December 9, 1:30pm - 4:00pm
Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center
2nd Floor (West Room)
4805 Edgemoor Lane
Bethesda, MD [map] [directions]
FREE admission – Everyone welcome, members and non-members

Skeptics are well-versed in applying the tools of critical thinking to a variety of claims we see in everyday life, from quack medicine to religion to agriculture. But for some reason, skeptics tend to have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to equally preposterous claims about the law. As the co-host of the popular Opening Arguments podcast, Andrew Torrez shares some of the most preposterous and unbelievable real-life questions that he's gotten from skeptics just like you about the law. Is there really a shadowy cabal of international bankers to whom your entire life has been pledged as collateral from birth? Did a watchdog group really file a petition before the Supreme Court to undo the 2016 Presidential Election? Do criminals frequently escape justice due to technicalities? This talk will equip you with the tools to help separate legal fact from legal fiction -- without having to earn a law degree of your own.

After nearly 20 years in big firms, P. Andrew Torrez founded his own law firm in 2015 to serve start-up and small businesses in Maryland and the District of Columbia. In 2016, he started the podcast Opening Arguments to explain legal concepts in the news to non-lawyers; today, the show is one of the most popular news & politics podcasts with nearly 2.5 million downloads to date.  Andrew Torrez is a 1997 graduate of Harvard Law School with honors, is a member of the Board of Governors of the Maryland chapter of the Federal Bar Association, has been named a Fellow of the American Bar Association, and has been repeatedly honored as one of Maryland's top lawyers by Benchmark since 2011.

Refreshments and socializing after the talk.

http://www.ncas.org/2017/11/december-9-skepticism-and-law-or-how-to.html


January NCAS Lecture

Our speaker, topic, and location will be announced at the December lecture.  Saturday, January 20 at 1:30 PM.


Something More to Celebrate

Among all the holiday celebrations this year, take time to lift a glass on December 21, marking the 5th anniversary of yet another end-of-times prediction gone wrong, the "Mayan apocalypse."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon


AmazonSmile: Thanks to our members who are supporting NCAS!

When holiday shopping at smile.amazon.com, you'll find the same low prices, vast selection, and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that a portion of the purchase price (0.5%) goes to NCAS! It's simple and automatic, and it doesn't cost you anything!

AmazonSmile's disbursements to NCAS in the third quarter of 2017 came to $27.55, meaning that over $5500 of purchases were designated in support of NCAS.  (As an example of how NCAS can put that money to good use, it's more than enough to cover an hour of a Montgomery County lecture room rental.)

Thanks again to our members who have chosen to support NCAS!

For more information:
http://smile.amazon.com/about
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1870185


Shadow Light

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Time to Renew?

 
Be sure to check your renewal date above your postal address on the Shadow Light postcard. Send any queries to ncas@ncas.org.  Use the online membership form to renew.
http://ncas.org/shadow