“That's what torture does: it creates a miasma of unknowing, about as dangerous a situation in wartime as one can imagine. This hideous fate was made possible by an inexperienced president with a fundamentalist psyche and a paranoid and power-hungry vice-president who decided to embrace "the dark side" almost as soon as the second tower fell, and who is still trying to avenge Nixon. Until they are both gone from office, we are in grave danger the kind of danger that only torturers and fantasists and a security strategy based on coerced evidence can conjure up.” TryingKindDoeMadeStillsSidesPresidentDarkSituationGoneFateImagineSecurityDangerousDangerOfficeEvidenceDecidedStrategyEmbraceVicesGravesHungryTortureTowersDark SideHideousParanoidVice PresidentFundamentalistWartimeUnknowingPower Hungry Author:Andrew Sullivan
“Jurors have found, again and again, and at critical moments, according to what is their sense of the rational and just. If their sense of justice has gone one way, and the case another, they have found "against the evidence," ... the English common law rests upon a bargain between the Law and the people: The jury box is where the people come into the court: The judge watches them and the people watch back. A jury is the place where the bargain is struck. The jury attends in judgment, not only upon the accused, but also upon the justice and the humanity of the Law.” PeopleIfsWayMomentsLawHumanityFoundJusticeCommonWatchesCasesGoneJudgingJudgmentEvidenceCourtBoxesCriticalRationalOne WayAgain And AgainAccusedJuryBargainsCommon LawJurorsCritical Moments Author:E. P. Thompson
“That he liked to think of himself as a philosopher. That he questioned all things, even the most simple, to the extent that when someone passing him on the street raised his hat and said, 'Good day,' Litvinoff often paused so long to weigh evidence that by the time he'd settled on an answer the person had gone on his way, leaving him standing alone.” ThinkingWayPersonsLongSaidSimpleAnswersGoneStreetsEvidenceStandingAll ThingsRaisedLeavingPhilosopherPassingPassingsHatsGood DayStanding AloneLeaving Him Author:Nicole Krauss
“Physicians had gone to their graves calling Pasteur a liar, a fool, or worse—without examining evidence which their “common sense” told them was impossible.” CommonGoneImpossibleFoolCallingEvidenceGravesCommon SenseLiarsPhysiciansExaminingPasteur Author:Robert A. Heinlein
“Evolution as a process that has always gone on in the history of the earth can only be doubted by those who are ignorant of the evidence or are resistant to evidence, owing to emotional blocks or plain bigotry.” EarthProcessGoneEmotionalEvolutionEvidenceIgnorantBlockBigotryDoubtedOwingCreationismCreation And Evolution Author:Theodosius Dobzhansky
“The most ridiculous concept ever perpetrated by Homo Sapiens is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of his creations, that he can be persuaded by their prayers, and becomes petulant if he does not receive this flattery. Yet this ridiculous notion, without one real shred of evidence to bolster it, has gone on to found one of the oldest, largest and least productive industries in history.” IfsWantDoeRealReligionUniverseFoundReligiousPrayerLordGoneCreationIndustryConceptsEvidenceNotionRidiculousProductiveRulersFlatteryAdorationHomo SapiensLord God Author:Robert A. Heinlein