One political meme that has been popular these last few years is the “Republican war on science.” Because many Republicans don’t believe in global warming or evolution or abortion, that means that Republicans are backwards anti-science trogs who should be more like the enlightened Europeans.
Gentlemen… behold the enlightened European War On Science:
Scientists convicted of manslaughter for failing to warn of earthquake
In short, seven of Italys best geologists have been sentenced to six years in prison for not providing a warning for a 2009 earthquake that killed a bunch of folks. While sad, the earthquake is hardly the scientists fault… and it’s hardly their fault for not being able to predict the currently unpredictable.
It would have been less silly for the Italian prosecutors to put the Pope on trial for this lack of foreknowledge.