Kansas City Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura found himself in the middle of a benches-clearing incident for the third straight start on Thursday night, this time against the Chicago White Sox. At the end of the seventh inning, White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton grounded a ball back to Ventura to end the inning. Before throwing to first base, though, Ventura and Eaton exchanged words, which soon escalated into both benches and bullpens emptying. After the ensuing melee, five players were ejected -- Ventura, Lorenzo Cain and Edinson Volquez for the Royals, and Chris Sale and Jeff Samardzija for the White Sox. Like Ventura, Sale, who started for the White Sox on Thursday, allowed two runs in seven innings before getting ejected. Ventura, 23, was available to pitch on Thursday because he somehow avoided suspension for throwing at Brett Lawrie of the Athletics on Saturday in Kansas City. Ventura was fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball on Tuesday for hitting Lawrie in the fourth inning of that game. But it goes back even further for Ventura, who took exception to a Mike Trout line drive single in Anaheim on April 12. Trout later scored in that inning, and Ventura exchanged words with the MVP, leading to another bench-clearing altercation.

What will you be doing on Monday, 4/20, at 11 p.m.?

Perhaps watching the premiere of acclaimed astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson’s new show StarTalk. Tyson, who may be best known for hosting the reboot of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series in 2014, will now be appearing weekly on the National Geographic Channel in what may be the first late-night science talk show. Along with a trusty cast of comedians and science-minded folks like Bill Nye, Tyson hopes the adaptation of his popular podcast to a broadcast format will make getting a regular dose of science as pain-free as possible. He thinks that by embedding it between pop culture discussions and entertaining asides, the science will go down easy, and even leave you wanting more. And he’s right.

The first episode features an interview with George Takei, who requires no introduction to any Star Trek fans: he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise. Takei has also become known for his activism surrounding human rights. Other guests this season include President Jimmy Carter, director Christopher Nolan, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, astronaut Chris Hadfield, and Ariana Huffington.

ThinkProgress was lucky enough to snag a few minutes of Tyson’s time to ask him about his new show, his feelings on how the media covers science, what we can do about climate change, and more.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) may love the Simpsons, but the Simpsons (or at least their creators) may not love him back.

During a podcast with The Federalist‘s Ben Domenech, Cruz told The Daily Beast‘s Washington bureau chief Will Rahn that he was indeed a Simpsons fanatic, and as proof, cited his two favorite episodes: “‘Round Springfield,” which originated the famous post-9/11 French slur “cheese-eating surrender monkeys”, and “Treehouse of Horror VII,” in which the aliens Kang and Kodos take over the bodies of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. (These are, incidentally, the Cruz-iest episodes Cruz could like.)

But alas, much like the relationship between Chris Christie and Bruce Springsteen, this relationship is purely one-sided:

“To paraphrase Kang, ‘Ted Cruz?’ Go ahead, throw your vote away,” Simpsons showrunner Al Jean told The Daily Beast, using one of the senator’s favorite episodes against him.

Leo Terrell was absolutely done with the hate on Sean Hannity’s show, so he walked out. And surprisingly, it wasn’t even Hannity he was mad at.

The conversation, which was supposed to be about the circumstances of the Walter Scott shooting, turned sour when Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, Hannity’s other guest, tried to turn the topic back against “black America.”

Peterson claimed that people needed to “stop overreacting” to the shootings in the news, saying, “All I’m saying is we should wait for due process, because I don’t think that Americans understand how angry and brainwashed these young black folks are. There have been an element of black Americans listening to people like these race hustlers….”

Terrell, who had been vying for his turn to speak, said, “I am not going to sit here and listen to this, this hate. It’s my turn…”

CINCINNATI -- With a "nod to players of the past while looking forward to things to come," the Cincinnati Bengals announced major news Wednesday regarding their logo.

It wasn't really "major," per se. But in the spirit of April Fools' Day, the announcement still had the Buckeye State buzzing, and may have added a little lighthearted fuel to the Bengals' rivalry with the Cleveland Browns.

As part of a prank to commemorate the holiday and to troll their in-state rival, the Bengals tweeted they would have a "fresh new look for the 2015 season." The tweet contained a link that sent readers to their website. Once on the team site, readers were taken to a page that featured three pictures.

The first had two versions of the team's striped "B" logo side-by-side with the years 2014 and 2015 underneath them. The 2015 version of the "B" logo had an orange in it that was a slightly lighter shade of what existed in the 2014 logo. The second picture featured the same cosmetic tweak to the orange in the Bengals' striped helmet logo. The third picture also had a similar change in color between the words "Cincinnati Bengals 2014" and "April Fools 2015."

Freedom of religion -- the ability to practice our faith without fear of persecution -- is a basic right that we as Americans hold dearly. But what we also cherish -- and have fought tremendously to achieve -- is the equal protection of the right of all to eat, shop, walk, work and live where we choose without discrimination. So how is it that in 2015 the governing body of the state of Indiana has enacted legislation that leaves room for businesses to discriminate against members of the LGBT community under the guise of some sort of "religious liberty"? The Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed by Governor Mike Pence last week, is one of the most biased pieces of state legislation we've seen in our modern era. The fact that it is cloaked in the name of religious freedom is particularly offensive to me as a member of the clergy who has been engaged in ministry and social justice work my entire life. This is a pivotal moment when all religious leaders must stand in unity for real freedom for everyone.

I first began preaching when I was just a boy, at the age of 4. I was initially ordained in the Church of God and Christ, a fundamentalist Christian denomination, and was re-baptized in 1994 by Rev. Dr. William Jones, a progressive Baptist who was a friend of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 2003, when I came out publicly in support of marriage equality, many friends I preach for (I preach at about 80 churches a year) were upset, and some threatened to not invite me to deliver sermons. But I stood my ground, reminding them that since the age of 12, when I was appointed Youth Director of Operation Bread Basket by Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Jones, I had been a civil rights activist. That is when I first saw my civil rights and ministerial obligations as one and the same.

My religious conviction compels me to fight for civil rights and social justice; I don't divide the two. Each and every one of us must speak out against this egregious Indiana law. We cannot fight for civil rights for some; we must fight for all in order to protect our great nation and preserve what makes us so unique. Didn't racists use religion to justify their belief in the inferiority of Blacks? Didn't misogynists misquote the Bible to justify gender inequality? The blatant use of religion has always been a tool of bigots. It is important, religiously, to stand up and dramatically denounce this Indiana law and say that it in fact does not represent religion. Rather, it legalizes bigotry and discrimination.

It's difficult to comprehend how such laws and antiquated actions can even be in existence in this day and age. Sadly, there are in fact 19 other states that have legislation similar to Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. But as a piece in The Atlantic highlights, Indiana's law is particularly troubling because it "makes a business's 'free exercise' right a defense against a private lawsuit by another person, rather than simply against actions brought by government." In other words, businesses can use this law to protect themselves against any discrimination or civil rights lawsuits brought against them.

Freedom of religion -- the ability to practice our faith without fear of persecution -- is a basic right that we as Americans hold dearly. But what we also cherish -- and have fought tremendously to achieve -- is the equal protection of the right of all to eat, shop, walk, work and live where we choose without discrimination. So how is it that in 2015 the governing body of the state of Indiana has enacted legislation that leaves room for businesses to discriminate against members of the LGBT community under the guise of some sort of "religious liberty"? The Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed by Governor Mike Pence last week, is one of the most biased pieces of state legislation we've seen in our modern era. The fact that it is cloaked in the name of religious freedom is particularly offensive to me as a member of the clergy who has been engaged in ministry and social justice work my entire life. This is a pivotal moment when all religious leaders must stand in unity for real freedom for everyone.

I first began preaching when I was just a boy, at the age of 4. I was initially ordained in the Church of God and Christ, a fundamentalist Christian denomination, and was re-baptized in 1994 by Rev. Dr. William Jones, a progressive Baptist who was a friend of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 2003, when I came out publicly in support of marriage equality, many friends I preach for (I preach at about 80 churches a year) were upset, and some threatened to not invite me to deliver sermons. But I stood my ground, reminding them that since the age of 12, when I was appointed Youth Director of Operation Bread Basket by Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Jones, I had been a civil rights activist. That is when I first saw my civil rights and ministerial obligations as one and the same.

My religious conviction compels me to fight for civil rights and social justice; I don't divide the two. Each and every one of us must speak out against this egregious Indiana law. We cannot fight for civil rights for some; we must fight for all in order to protect our great nation and preserve what makes us so unique. Didn't racists use religion to justify their belief in the inferiority of Blacks? Didn't misogynists misquote the Bible to justify gender inequality? The blatant use of religion has always been a tool of bigots. It is important, religiously, to stand up and dramatically denounce this Indiana law and say that it in fact does not represent religion. Rather, it legalizes bigotry and discrimination.

It's difficult to comprehend how such laws and antiquated actions can even be in existence in this day and age. Sadly, there are in fact 19 other states that have legislation similar to Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. But as a piece in The Atlantic highlights, Indiana's law is particularly troubling because it "makes a business's 'free exercise' right a defense against a private lawsuit by another person, rather than simply against actions brought by government." In other words, businesses can use this law to protect themselves against any discrimination or civil rights lawsuits brought against them.