“Everybody had forgotten about the New Yorker piece, but now they’ve brought it all up again for everyone to think about.”
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Cameron “won’t back” Dorries’s plan
Dorries says he’ll change his mind.
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More new 9/11 conspiracy books
David Griffin, a professor of theology, has written nine books purporting to prove that the September 11 attacks were “masterminded from inside the American state apparatus.”
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9/11 conspiracy theories debunked
One by one.
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Jamaat-e-Islami had Hijab Day yesterday
It is time that Hijab culture should be promoted through social media and networks to eliminate vulgarity from society.
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Indian state considers ban on “black magic”
One right-wing association, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, called it “a draconian law targeting faith” and denounced its proponents as “atheists.”
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“Why I felt I had to turn my back on WikiLeaks”
Dismay mounted with the arrival of Israel Shamir, a self-styled Russian “peace campaigner” with a long history of antisemitic writing.
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Libby Anne on masters and slaves, men and women
Debi Pearl reveals that all the talk about men’s and women’s roles being different but equal is
nothing but rhetorical flourish. -
Spiegel on Wikileaks: a disaster in six acts
A chain of careless mistakes, coincidences, indiscretions and confusion means that no potential whistleblower would feel comfortable turning to a leaking platform now.
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Glenn Greenwald on Wikileaks
Many of those condemning WikiLeaks care nothing about harm to civilians as long as it’s done by the U.S. government and military.
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Terry Glavin on Julian Assange, narcissist of the decade
He released more than 1,000 cables outing individual political activists and more than 150 cables outing whistleblowers and people persecuted by their governments.
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Dahlia Lithwick on Cheney and why the law matters
The reason Cheney keeps saying that torture is “legal” is because he has a clutch of worthless legal memoranda saying so.
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Maryam Namazie battles media’s cone of silence on sharia
“Human rights are not Western – they are universal. Can we please just have the same rights, thank you very much,” Ms Namazie said.
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Maryam Namzie on sharia on ABC News
“The more critical we are publicly, the easier it will be for others to step forward and do the same.”
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Response of the Holy See to the Government of Ireland
It wasn’t the Holy See’s fault. Ireland is far far far away from the Holy See, and the Holy See can’t help that. The Holy See is way sorry but shut up about it.
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Vatican retorts to Irish government
Cardinal Sean Brady says it’s wonderful; Archbishop Diarmuid Martin says it’s terrific; Fr Lombardi says how serene the Vatican is.
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Eric MacDonald on women’s rights all over again
The case for women’s freedom must be made again and again, until the religious disease is cured; so long as religion is present on the political stage, every freedom we enjoy is in danger.
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Religious rules do not trump child protection laws
The Irish justice minister had to reiterate this in response to Cardinal Sean Brady’s fuss about the “sacred and treasured” rite of confession.
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Christians outraged over BC and AD v BCE and CE
Baby Jesus is hurt that Australian high school text books will no longer use his name in dates.
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Sarah Posner and Anthea Butler on the new Pentecostalism
If journalists want to understand the religious right movement, they must pay attention to diversity among evangelicals, Pentecostals, and non-denominational churches.