No money for the Senate campaign, he is told.
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Austria Freedom Party condemned for Nazi-like cartoon
A caricature of a banker with a hooked nose, wearing Star of David cufflinks? Yes, that’s Nazi-like.
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Iran bans women from 77 BA and BSc courses
Mullahs are concerned about the social side-effects of rising educational standards among women, including declining birth and marriage rates.
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Cardinal stops meddling with Scottish government
Cardinal Keith O’Brien has turned down an invitation to discuss same-sex marriage, leaving any talks to officials, just as he ought.
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Assange should go to Sweden to face the allegations
Assange is a rape suspect who skipped bail. Yet some of his supporters have made
arguments that they would never make about anybody else. -
Pakistan: 11-year-old Xian girl accused of blasphemy
Reports say that she has Down syndrome and that she and her mother were beaten by a mob.
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Russian Orthodox Church “forgives” Pussy Riot
“We did forgive them from the very start. But such actions should be cut short by society and authorities.”
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Gay pride marches banned in Moscow for 100 years
Moscow city government claims the parade would cause public disorder and that most Muscovites do not support it.
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The Guardian talks to E O Wilson
His new book takes in language and the arts in its bold attempt to demonstrate that generosity, as mandated by group selection, is humanity’s secret ingredient.
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Pussy Riot jail terms condemned
The US and EU said the sentences were disproportionate. Amnesty International
said they must be overturned. -
Pregnant Dominican teenager dies of leukemia
Doctors refused to give her chemo because she was 9 weeks pregnant. They waited 20 days before allowing the treatment. Too late.
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Pussy Riot as enemies of Russia and church
A chance for Putin to paint his opponents as obscene, disrespectful, rabble-rousing liberal urbanites backed by the West.
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Pussy Riot sentenced to two years in prison
“The girls’ actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous and broke the church’s
rules,” Judge Marina Syrova told the court. -
“Almost comatose” woman forcibly married
Judge says the forced marriage of a Bangladeshi woman with learning difficulties should be annulled.
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Raymond Tallis on the case for assisted dying
Unbearable suffering, prolonged by medical care, and inflicted on a dying patient against their will, is an unequivocal evil.
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UK: action plan on child abuse linked to witchcraft
“We must never forget this is about child cruelty not culture and we cannot afford to wait until another child is murdered before decisive action is taken.”
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Atheist billboards target candidates’ religions
You get Romney’s god as a space alien in magic underwear, and Obama’s sadistic god who promotes hate and calls it love.
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Somalia: new constitution bans FGM
The provisional constitution says FGM is “a cruel and degrading customary practice, and is tantamount to torture. The circumcision of girls is prohibited.”
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Make us do the math
Jennifer Ouellette says why just giving up on teaching algebra is a very bad (and anti-democratic) idea.
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Turkey: violence leading cause of death for women 15-44
The number of women between 15 and 44 who lose their lives to gender-based violence outstrips deaths due to traffic accidents, malaria, cancer and war