All posts tagged: skeptical

Supreme Court justices skeptical of sweeping immunity claims by Trump

Supreme Court justices skeptical of sweeping immunity claims by Trump

Published by skeptic

Justices on the Supreme Court voiced skepticism Thursday to assertions from former President Trump’s attorneys that presidential immunity could extend to an attempted coup or the assassination of a political rival, even as they seemed ready to offer some protections from criminal prosecution. Such a ruling could create a new cycle of legal battles that has the impact of delaying Trump’s federal election subversion trial — and his others — past the election.  Conservative and liberal justices alike peppered Trump’s counsel with hypothetical situations, asking how far the former president’s claim of sweeping immunity protections would go. Chief Justice John Roberts asked whether a president could be prosecuted for accepting a bride for appointing someone to an ambassador post, while liberal Justice Elena Kagan asked whether a president selling nuclear secrets would have immunity. Fellow liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked if “fundamentally evil” actions such as ordering the military to take out a political rival would be protected by presidential immunity. D. John Sauer, who argued the case on behalf of Trump, said most of the hypotheticals could plausibly fall under the …

True Haunting, or Not? | Skeptical Inquirer

True Haunting, or Not? | Skeptical Inquirer

Published by Sam

In 1971, years before both the bestselling novel and film The Amityville Horror thrilled the public with one of the most well-known “true stories” of a haunted house, NBC News aired a short, six-minute clip documenting the exorcism of the allegedly haunted Chicago couple Edwin and Marsha Becker. Decades later, Edwin Becker self-published an account of these events and the “first televised exorcism” in his novel, True Haunting. Since then, according to websites such as The Lineup (Grey 2022) and Collider (Ehli 2023) the Beckers’ story is set to become a major motion picture starring Jamie Campbell Bowers and Erin Moriarty. All this attention raises the question: What evidence do we have for believing True Haunting is what its name suggests? (Our investigation is based on the claims presented in the book and multiple interviews; the film has not yet been released.)   Image Credit: IMDb The Story of True Haunting The story begins on July 25, 1970, when Edwin (Ed) Becker saw the real estate advertisement for a two-flat apartment building on Campbell Street1 …

Weird Shit Explained | Skeptical Inquirer

Weird Shit Explained | Skeptical Inquirer

Published by Sam

The Science of Weird Shit: Why Our Minds Conjure the Paranormal by Chris French. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2024. ISBN: 9780262048361. 424 pp. Hardcover, $32.95. From Ghoulies and Ghosties, And long-leggedy Beasties, And things that go bump in the Night, Good Lord deliver us. —Traditional Scottish Prayer Experience is a great teacher; it guides our behavior, influences our emotions, shapes our beliefs and—in combination with what we learn from others—establishes a stable model of the world around us. However, its lessons are based on our interpretations rather than the experiences themselves, and those interpretations are affected by myriad cognitive, neurological, and cultural influences and biases. And so, it is a great teacher—except when it is not. Experiences that seem bizarre and incomprehensible—Chris French’s “weird shit”—are often extremely poor guides to reality, leading to fallacious magical, paranormal, and supernatural attributions. Because human brains are pretty much the same everywhere, similar sorts of experiences—telepathy, precognition, psychokinesis, gods, ghoulies, ghosties, and the like—have been reported in every culture and every era and have become woven into the rich fabric …

Supreme Court skeptical of siding with man denied visa over tattoos

Supreme Court skeptical of siding with man denied visa over tattoos

Published by skeptic

WASHINGTON —  For the record: 1:22 p.m. April 23, 2024In a previous version of this article, Luis Asencio Cordero’s surname was misspelled as Acensio Cordero. Supreme Court justices sounded skeptical Tuesday about siding with a Los Angeles woman who claimed her constitutional rights were violated when the government denied a visa to her Salvadoran husband, in part over his tattoos. While some justices said they agreed that denial of a visa to a U.S. citizen’s spouse could in theory infringe on the citizen’s constitutionally protected interests, a majority suggested the government had fulfilled its legal responsibilities in this case. Former resident Luis Asencio Cordero, who is from El Salvador, has been separated from his wife, L.A. civil rights attorney Sandra Muñoz, since 2015. The couple sued, arguing the federal government had violated her rights to marriage and due process by failing to provide a timely explanation for denying his visa. Initially, the government said it denied the visa due to concerns that Asencio Cordero would be likely to engage in unlawful activity if he were allowed …

Goldman Sachs executive remains skeptical about Bitcoin

Goldman Sachs executive remains skeptical about Bitcoin

Published by skeptic

Despite the increasing acceptance of cryptocurrency as an asset class by many traditional financial institutions, Goldman Sachs remains skeptical about Bitcoin (BTC). In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, the bank’s chief investment officer, Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, stated that Bitcoin is not considered an investment asset class and that the bank does not believe in cryptocurrencies. Mossavar-Rahmani questioned the value of Bitcoin: If you cannot assign a value, then how can you be bullish or bearish? Mossavar-Rahmani also stated that customers have not expressed interest in crypto. The bank officially launched its crypto trading desk in 2021 and has been facilitating various Bitcoin-linked trades, including Bitcoin non-deliverable futures and CME BTC futures. Still, the bank does not interact with the cryptocurrencies directly. Max Minton, Goldman’s Asia Pacific head of digital assets, noted in an interview that the recent approval of ETFs has reignited interest and activity among the bank’s clients. Many clients are either currently active in the crypto space or are considering entering it, with a noticeable increase in client interest, onboarding, pipeline, …

Judge Cannon skeptical of defense’s argument in Trump’s classified documents case

Judge Cannon skeptical of defense’s argument in Trump’s classified documents case

Published by skeptic

Donald Trump was present at a hearing in Florida on Thursday for his classified documents case, but he said nothing in his own defense, allowing his legal team to present a number of arguments on his behalf that Judge Aileen Cannon didn’t seem to be buying. According to NBC News‘ blow-by-blow coverage, Cannon “appeared skeptical” of Trump’s lawyers’ pushing for the case to be dismissed based on the Presidential Records Act, with attorney Todd Blanche arguing that “presidents since George Washington have taken materials out of the White House” at “their own discretion,” to which the judge responded with, “It’s difficult to see how this gets you to the dismissal of an indictment.” And when Blanche tried to blame the case on the National Archives and Records Administration, Cannon shot that down as “a red herring.” “NARA is not sitting at the table over there,” Cannon added regarding the above, saying she will be ruling on the motions “promptly.” Trump, who faces 40 criminal charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents, commented on the hearing via a post to Truth Social, …

Judge skeptical of lawsuit brought by Elon Musk’s X over hate speech research

Judge skeptical of lawsuit brought by Elon Musk’s X over hate speech research

Published by skeptic

Elon Musk departs the Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Court House in San Francisco, on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. Benjamin Fanjoy/AP hide caption toggle caption Benjamin Fanjoy/AP Elon Musk departs the Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Court House in San Francisco, on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. Benjamin Fanjoy/AP A federal judge in San Francisco appears poised to toss a lawsuit brought by Elon’s Musk’s X against a nonprofit that found the platform allowed hate speech to spread on the site once known as Twitter. Last year, lawyers for X sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate, claiming the group improperly scraped X to prepare damning reports about the proliferation of hate speech on the site. But in a hearing over Zoom on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer appeared highly skeptical of the case, devoting the majority of the proceeding to grilling Musk’s lawyer over why the lawsuit was brought at all. Jon Hawk, X’s lawyer, said at core the suit is about honoring data security agreements to protect the platform’s …

Skeptical Heroes Unite: CSICon 2023

Skeptical Heroes Unite: CSICon 2023

Published by Sam

The first CSICon I attended was in Nashville in 2012, and my goal was to meet my skeptical hero, Scott Lilienfeld. The next year I brought my son to CSICon in Seattle with the goal of meeting our shared hero, Bill Nye. In 2018, I spoke for the first time as part of CSICon’s Sunday Morning Papers in Las Vegas, with thanks to another hero, Ray Hall. And for CSICon 2023, I now get to report on the conference for the first time due to another hero of mine, Barry Karr. If you already read my editor’s note in this SI issue, then you know I’m really leaning into the hero theme. I acknowledge that this theme can come off a bit cheesy, but it’s really how I feel about all these skeptical inquirers (and I know I’m not alone). For your sake, though, I’ll stop adding the word hero before every name mentioned, but please know that the following presenters regularly inspire me, which is the true definition of a hero. The first day …

The Highs and Lows of Skeptical Education

The Highs and Lows of Skeptical Education

Published by Sam

As a psychologist and former college professor, I’m always drawn to the CSICon talks about teaching, because so many of the skills needed to combat the onslaught of crazy stuff in the world do not come naturally. You have to learn them. Education is the key to separating the wheat from the chaff—or the woo from the crap. This year there was a wonderful superabundance of talks about child development and education, ranging from infancy to college. Below are my summaries of the best nuggets from four of these talks.   Stephen Hupp Debuts as New Editor of Skeptical Inquirer Stephen Hupp Psychologist Stephen Hupp appeared on the CSICon main stage for the first time as the new editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine and gave a hilarious and informative talk on pop psychology myths. Hupp’s talk was scheduled well before he knew he would be the editor of SI, but he used the first few minutes of his time to acknowledge people who had preceded and inspired him. Most importantly, he recognized the legacy and …

Trump endorses Michael Whatley to lead the RNC, as some Republicans skeptical

Trump endorses Michael Whatley to lead the RNC, as some Republicans skeptical

Published by skeptic

WASHINGTON (AP) — In pushing Michael Whatley as the next leader of the Republican National Committee, Donald Trump zeroed in on the North Carolina GOP chairman’s dedication to “election integrity,” baselessly suggesting he would ensure the 2024 race “can’t be stolen.” Some of Trump’s most ardent supporters in Whatley’s home state would, no doubt, like a word. Whatley has been accused by some Republicans of essentially manufacturing his win as state party chairman last year following a chaotic vote, which resulted in a legal challenge that offered evidence some ballots were improperly cast. While Whatley and his allies acknowledged that technical problems made voting with the party’s mobile app difficult, they vehemently deny that the irregularities changed the outcome of the contest and note that the lawsuit was dismissed. But for some conservatives, primed by years of Trump urging vigilance against voter fraud, the episode instilled a suspicion that the party contest was stolen by a Washington Beltway fixture whose work for the George W. Bush administration and as a lobbyist they viewed skeptically. “I …