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22 Feb 2011 14:24

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Politics: Supreme Court Justice’s impressive streak of questionlessness

  • 5 years since Clarence Thomas’ last question of an arguing attorney source
  • » The question is, why? Thomas has offered some indication, saying that he feels the process is overdone and that the other justices ask any questions he might have, but it seems improbable at best that he legitimately hasn’t had a question worth asking in five years. It’s true, though, that this may have no real impact on how the Court conducts business, but it does beg the question: should inquisitiveness be held up as more of a virtue than it is in this day and age? Or do you prefer the strong, silent type?
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jul 2010 20:50

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U.S.: Oil spill sketchiness: BP is buying silence from Gulf scientists

  • We told them there was no way we would agree to any kind of restrictions on the data we collect. It was pretty clear we wouldn’t be hearing from them again after that. We didn’t like the perception of the university representing BP in any fashion.
  • University of South Alabama head of marine sciences Bob Shipp • On BP’s desire to work with the university. Work with the university? For what, you ask? Well, they wanted to offer lucrative pay – and a big contract – to the school’s marine scientists. But at a major cost. Basically, the scientists could not publish or even speak about any of their data for the next three years. Long story short: They said no. But not every scientist was willing to bend – scientists at Louisiana State University, the University of Southern Mississippi and Texas A&M reportedly said yes. Unbelievable. And right after this mess. (Thanks Charles Apple – again!) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Nov 2009 10:40

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World: Is Iran using the death penalty to silence political opposition?

Ehsan Fattahian was hanged on Nov. 11th for belonging to an armed Kurdish group. Sentenced 10 years initially, they then added the charge of being an “enemy of God.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Aug 2009 12:31

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Tech, World: To silence ONE GUY, Russia had to take down Twitter

twitterhack0607
  • The lack of logic and high level of selfishness here (on Russia’s part) is atrocious. Russian authorities tried to silence Cyxymu, a.k.a. “George,” for his stance on the Georgia conflict. (The timing was political.) But instead, Russia tried to shut down every major social network, causing the guy they wanted to silence to have an even bigger voice. Genius, Russia. Just genius.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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