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Doubtful News Roundup for 12 December 2014

12/12/2014

 
Questionable claims, pseudoscience and dangerous nonsense from around the world — Here are the top stories from Doubtful News this week from India, Australia, the U.S., and Ghana.

Frozen guru in the ashram is causing a stir in the town  Back in January, a popular spiritual leader died without naming his successor. Followers insist he’s not dead yet, just meditating, in a supernatural state of samahdi. He will awaken, they insist. Officials are just about fed up and have called for his funeral be held by December 17.

Controversial Ghanian church leader in trouble for violent exorcism on pregnant woman   A church leader who has a history of causing trouble and threatening others is filmed stomping on the belly of a pregnant woman to rid her of demons. Community leaders are demanding legal action against him.

“Natural” does not mean safe: Child dead in Australia after consuming raw milk  One child died and others were hospitalized after consuming raw milk from a company who markets the product as “bath milk”. Many have alleged that the marketing was just a way to avoid legal troubles since unpasteurized milk is not regulated for human consumption. The distributor however dug a huge hole for themselves by being publicly ridiculous and not taking any responsibility for the illnesses and death even though they apparently knew this was a potential problem.

FTC sprinkles refund checks on diet supplement consumers  The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has cracked down on Sensa Products for deceptive practices associated with it’s sprinkle-on powder that supposedly allowed for weight loss without diet changes or exercise. This week, consumers are seeing refund checks resulting from the settlement.

Ham shoots back at critics with Ark park advertising but ultimately is shot down  The Kentucky tourism board struck a rough blow to the Answers in Genesis Creationist theme park, Ark Encounter, by denying them tax breaks due to their lack of adherence to nondiscriminatory hiring requirements. Ken Ham is blaming Godless liberals, of course.

Simpson and Krabappel study highlights laughable science journals  When two characters from The Simpsons animated TV show are listed as authors of a nonsensical technical paper, red flags ought to go up. When there is money involved in publishing papers, peer review is simply a rubber stamp. Science publication needs a-fixing. And fast.

Staff of controversial Florida alt med spa sues claiming illegal and unethical practice  A West Palm Beach health spa gained attention for treating Canadian First Nation children for leukemia with traditional aboriginal and alternative treatments. Turns out the staff there blew the whistle on the spa and claimed that unethical and illegal medicinal practices were taking place. Are you surprised? No, I didn’t think so.

Visit DoubtfulNews.com for more stories everyday. Pass our links on via social media to spread the world about dubious media claims and what to think about strange phenomena. 


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    SWIFT is named after Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels. In the book, Gulliver encounters among other things a floating island inhabited by spaced-out scientists and philosophers who hardly deal with reality. Swift was among the first to launch well-designed critiques against the flummery - political, philosophical, and scientific - of his time, a tradition that we hope to maintain at The James Randi Foundation.

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