In the Islamic Republic of Iran, a ‘judicial review’ often effectively means the regime is waiting for the opportunity to carry out its executions.
Category: Latest News
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.
We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.
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Where are all the atheist women?
Right here, Jen McCreight points out.
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Uganda: judge tells tabloid to stop outing gays
High Court judge ordered Rolling Stone newspaper to stop publishing names and photographs of people it says are homosexual.
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Thomas Nagel reviews The Moral Landscape
Harris’s concrete moral conclusions depend on one venerable moral premise and a number of commonsense observations about human life.
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Rand Paul in victory speech misquotes Jefferson
Or rather, misattributes something Thoreau said to Jefferson. As Ayn Rand said, “accuracy is tyranny.”
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Ashtiani has not been hanged yet
Bernard Kouchner said Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told him no verdict in her case had been reached.
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UK author convicted of insulting Singapore judiciary
In Once a Jolly Hangman – Singapore Justice in the Dock Alan Shadrake criticised how the death penalty is used, alleging a lack of impartiality.
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Review of Ben Goldacre’s “Bad Science”
In the chapter titled “The Doctor Will Sue You Now,” the usually affable Dr. Goldacre is indeed angry, and rightly so.
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Artist refused to be gagged, withdrew from exhibit
“We were concerned that offence could have been taken and this may have impacted negatively on arts funding.”
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Padraig Ready on Ireland’s head-in-sand censorship
A photographer has withdrawn a project from exhibition after local officials objected to the text accompanying the pictures.
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Will “new atheism” make room for women?
“No women are currently recognized as leaders or even mentioned as a force within the movement.” Debatable.
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Lauryn Oates on negotiating with the Taliban
The Taliban have been quite consistent in their beliefs that girls should not be educated and women who work outside the home deserve to die. -
Nicholas Kristof tells Afghan women to get over it
Teachers and principals should not have to negotiate with deranged, violent lunatic militants for children to go to school.
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How internet discussions of sexism go
“Sorry ladies, nothing is sexist until I say it is, plus I heart women, so lick my balls.”
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Appiah on honour at Five Books
His first choice is In the Name of Honor by Mukhtar Mai.
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Salman Rushdie on Yusuf Islam
What he said to the New York Times in 1989.
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What was Yusuf Islam doing at the Sanity rally?
He previously showed his commitment to peace and sanity by saying that death was the appropriate punishment for Salman Rushdie’s “blasphemy.”
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BJP protesters besiege Arundhati Roy
Around 150 BJP members surrounded her house chanting slogans. Roy supports independence for Kashmir, which the BJP opposes.
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PSI research: What do these numbers really mean?
The problem is not the results but how they are being interpreted.
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New evidence for precognition?
“Rehearsing a set of words makes them easier to recall in the future, but what if the rehearsal occurs after the recall?”