RationalWiki:Best of the world

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This is the place to sort, search and review all the classic What Is Going On in the world? moments. Results are sorted by vote count and month, at the moment you can provide your own vote number cutoff, browse different months, or filter all the results by a keyword.

The day-to-day updates are over at What Is Going On in the world? and all new contenders should be added there. Entries are automatically moved here.

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202Today is a good day to call in sick and spend the day reading your favorite conservative hate-blogs. Marriage equality is the law of the land in the USA
126the World The NFT market collapses
123Antigay bigots buy all tickets to stop a queer-safe high school formal. They fail to realize it's a crowdfunding, each ticket funds 1 young attendee, and that they've accidentally funded the whole thing (in fact, three times the original funding target) which now has to find a larger venue.
115Phyllis Schlafly hears rumors of liberals in Heaven, departs immediately to launch her latest campaign.
115United Statesthe District of Columbia. Welp, Trump has incited a riot over the ceremonial Electoral College voting process, and rioters have broken into the Capitol building itself. If you want to stage a coup, this is basically Step 1. Extra: Baked Alaska is livestreaming from within. Update: Twitter has suspended Trump's account for inciting violence and spreading lies about the election.
112UkraineRussia WAR! Russia invades Ukraine - Putin: "it's for peace" - the same way fucking is for virginity.
107United States Donald and Melania Trump test positive for Covid-19.
107Say it with me, 4 more years!
106United States Donald Trump has been impeached by the House of Representatives for "incitement of insurrection", making him the first President to be impeached twice.
103Miami Police shoot black man who is lying down with arms raised as he helps his autistic patient. He was shot in the leg and has survived his wound. He asked the policeman, 'Why did you shoot me?' the policeman replied, 'I don't know.' Kinsey claims he was handcuffed and left bleeding in the street for 20 minutes.] Update: The Miami police union president has released an excuse for the officer's action, the officer meant to shoot the unarmed austistic man. When he asked the officer why he shot him, the officer replied that he did not know. Further update: The autistic man was identified as Arnaldo Eliud Rios Soto. What's more Rios Soto was also treated as a criminal, he was kept handcuffed in a squad car for hours among other abuses. Rios Soto is now in psychiatric hospital and traumatized.
102United States United Kingdom Romania Manosphere grifter Andrew Tate who earlier teased environmental activist Greta Thunberg with his 33 cars, has been arrested in Romania by a specialist organised crime police unit for human trafficking and rape.
98Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has been found dead at a West Texas ranch he was visiting. Death was not properly certified and there was no autopsy fueling conspiracy theories. Ted Cruz already wants to delay replacing him until 2017, as does Senate judiciary committee member Conn Carroll.
93United StatesSpeaker Nancy Pelosi opens a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump over the Ukraine scandal
92United States President Donald Trump has been impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
91The people have spoken. The Irish have voted overwhelmingly in favour of marriage equality.
89United StatesMinnesota. Derek Chauvin found guilty on all 3 charges.
88United States Good riddance.: Rush Limbaugh dead at 70
88Russia Gay Pride Flag.svg Warlord that oversaw the "gay purge" in Chechnya killed in Ukraine
87Running water discovered on Mars.
86United StatesTurkey Biden becomes first US president to recognise Armenian genocide. Unsurprisingly, Turkey isn't happy about it.
86United States Tucker: "We'll be back on Monday!" Monday: lol, no...
85The President: "Rape is rape. And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me...I think these comments do underscore why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."
85RIP Robin Williams. (Well, that didn't take long)
84United StatesJames Randi, the skeptic's skeptic, has passed away.
84The American Health Care Act (aka Trumpcare or Ryancare) has been pulled.
84United States Utah. Trans flag.svg Spencer Cox, Republican Governor of Utah, receives a bill banning transgender kids from sports and... vetoes it? "Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live."
83Gay marriage is legalized in New York State.
83Bridge? Spock here. Beam me up. UPDATE: There's Klingons off the starboard bow, starboard bow, starboard bow...
82the World Kiwi Farms has been kickbanned by CloudFlare. UPDATE: And now also their new Russian service provider.
82 The US Supreme Court upholds 'Obamacare' Update: Oh God, the irony, it burns!
81United States Biden's win has been officially certified by Congress. UPDATE: Four Five people are now known to have died in the Capitol riot. One of them is a U.S. Capitol PoliceWikipedia officer, injured fighting with rioters.
81After 47 GOP Senators breach federal law by writing to Iran, telling them that any nuclear deal made with Obama could be repealed by the next President, it turns out an Iranian minister knows more about international law and the US Constitution than these 47 fuckwits.
80You don't need abortion exceptions for when the woman was raped, because if she got pregnant, it wasn't really rape. Todd Akin sets a new record for being a shitbag.
80At last, Sir Terry, we must walk together. Terry took Death’s arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night. The End.
80"Skeptic" offers 100,000 Euro reward to prove Measles is a virus (rather than psychosomatic), is ordered to pay up.
794 times married Kim Davis sent to jail for contempt of court, marriages may now proceed in her absence. Update: Even the Westboro Baptist Church is against her. Oh, and so is the Donald.
79United States Canada The Keystone XL Pipeline project has been terminated.
79Ukraine Gay Pride Flag.svg After a formal petition by KyivPride to President Zelenskyy in regards to same-sex marriage in Ukraine due to a number of LGBT soldiers fighting, he has formally responded by provisionally agreeing to introducing a same-sex partnership law, with a possibility of equal marriage in the future.
78In 2003, the anti-vax non-profit SafeMinds started funding studies in an attempt to prove that childhood vaccines cause autism. Twelve years and $250,000 later, University of Texas Southwestern researchers have now revealed disconcerting new findings in the hippocampal cells of vaccinated macaques that may suggest a link between bahahaha just kidding, they found jack shit.
78United States Not that any of his brain damaged followers will acknowledge it, but Alex Jones had a very bad day in court. He admitted under oath that the Sandy Hook massacre was "100% real," and was humiliated when he found out that his legal team accidentally sent a digital copy of his cell phone to the prosecution, exposing Jones to perjury charges for lying the previous day when asked if there were any Sandy Hook-related messages on his phone. Pissing off the defendants, Jones continues to weasel out of hefty financial damages by shifting around his money. Update: "Stop the monetization of misinformation and lies. Please." The jury says Jones should pay $42 million US in punitive damages to the parents of a Sandy Hook shooting victim. His legal problems aren't over yet, either.
78Canada Canada's Senate passes bill to ban conversion therapy
76President Obama declares his support for marriage equality.
76The UK has officially banned creationism from being taught in science classes..
75United StatesKansas. In a ballot initiative, Kansas voters strike down proposed state constitutional amendment that would have removed protections for abortion rights. In 2019, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state's constitution protected abortion rights, which now remains state law.
75Fred Phelps is dead. [1] On the UN "Day of Happiness."
74California set to mandate childhood vaccines.
74Brazil Lula defeats Bolsonaro, becoming President of Brazil by 2023.
74United States Joe Biden marks the first anniversary of the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot by calling the former president who still hasn’t accepted his loss a liar and a loser
73United StatesCanada President Joe Biden revokes the Keystone XL pipeline permit.
73 Obama has commuted Chelsea Manning's sentence.
73The wife of a Texan anti-LGBT crusader left him... for a woman.
72Missouri is seriously short of funding for public defenders. Fortunately, in extremis, the head public defender can draft any member of the state bar to serve as a public defender. For instance, the governor who vetoed proper funding for public defenders. (The letter to the governor is a thing of beauty.)
72Former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn has been charged with lying to the FBI, has pleaded guilty, and is cooperating with the special counsel's investigation into Russia's interference in last year's election.
71Benjamin Netanyahu believes Hitler didn't want to exterminate Jews. The mooslims talked him into it!
71This is how Chicago is handling police misconduct allegations.
71In a massive study involving 95,000 children, researchers have confirmed that there is no connection between the MMR vaccine and autism, even in high-risk populations. Focus is now shifting on studying the effectiveness of the drinking of water as a preventative measure against dehydration, and whether or not the habitual inhalation of oxygen is an effective deterrent against death.
70Japan Japan raises the age of consent from 13 to 16, changes the definition of rape from "forcible sexual intercourse" to "non-consensual sexual intercourse", outlaws the secret filming of sexual acts and bans "photo voyeurism" (such as upskirting).
69United States #proudboys has been taken over by gay men. Well played sir!
69Vietnam Gay Pride Flag.svg Vietnam has removed homosexuality and transsexuality from its list of mental disorders, asked medical staff not to treat it and is planning to ban conversion therapy.
69Japan Germany Due to the global shortage of computer chips, Japanese printer manufacturer Canon has informed its customers in Germany how to bypass the DRM in its printers, as it cannot add any chips to its printer cartridges.
69RussiaUkraine The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they accuse of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
69the World NFTs are now dead.
69United States Henry Kissinger has died at age 100.
68Yet another school shooting in the US of A.
68Colossal document leak from law firm specializing in "offshore asset management" contains details of tax haven and money laundering operations of the ultra-rich, including numerous current and former heads of government.
68United KingdomStephen Hawking finally succumbed to his ALS at 76. RIP.
67Gravitational Waves detected for the first time. The science is complex and exciting.
67Fox News to drop Bill O'Reilly amid allegations of sexual harassment.
67Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) condemns evolution and the Big Bang as "lies straight from the pit of hell." Of course he's on the House science committee.
66Alabama will require students to learn about evolution, climate change. DENIALIST TEARS
66In a totally above-board move that in no way looks like Watergate, Nixon Trump fires Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox FBI Director James Comey.
66Mexico Flag of Tamaulipas.svgGay Pride Flag.svg The Congress of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas voted to legalize same-sex marriage, meaning that same-sex marriage is now legal in all of Mexico.
66 At least one US ally has had enough - The Australian Deputy Prime Minister declares that "cranks and crazies" have taken over the US Republican party. Update: the Prime Minister is backing him.
65United States Q-anon believers all over the world (but mostly in the US) beginning to realize they got played
65Sweden Greta Thunberg has been named Time magazine's "2019 Person of the Year"
65United States the District of Columbia. An appeals court in the District has said that homeopathic products must not be placed in the same place as FDA approved medicines, saying that it confuses customers.
65United StatesNew York. A New York court has ruled that Trump committed fraud while building his real estate empire.
65Osama bin Laden is dead. The US military has his body. Everything will be all right now, we can return to total worldwide peace. Maybe. (BTW, in a bit of no-doubt intentional irony, this news comes on the eighth anniversary of Dubya's so-called Mission Accomplished speech.)
65All hail the BBC.
64Homeopathy effective for 0 out of 68 illnesses, study finds
64United States A hacker has crawled the Parler database and released up to 70Tb of posts, pictures and videos, including a complete dump of every Parler post made on January 6. For extra laughs, Parler didn't strip metadata from uploaded photos.
64Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who has claimed that natural disasters are God's way to punish gays has his home destroyed by a natural disaster.
64Milo Yiannopoulos dropped from CPAC amid his pedophilia controversy. Edit:Simon & Schuster has pulled their book deal, as well. And he's resigned from Breitbart.
64United States Connecticut. InfoWars' Alex Jones has been found liable for defamation in the Sandy Hook ‘hoax’ case.
64United States The Confederacy loses again: Jan 6 rioter who carried a Confederate flag into the Capitol and used it to assault a Black police officer is sentenced to 3 years in prison.
64So Kent Hovind is suing us. (404? Try this.)
64UPDATE on the Freddy Gray situation : All six officers involved in the incident are now facing criminal charges ranging from 2nd degree murder to assault and false imprisonment. Claims that Gray was carrying an illegal switchblade have also been found to be false.
63US Supreme court upholds key part of 'Obama Care' according to the BBC. You can all stop trying to repeal it now.
63Former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli bought the rights to an anti-parasite drug and raised the price 5000%, then taunted people about it on Twitter (P.S. it's perfectly legal). Update A drug for TB has also jumped 2000%.
63Victory for the Browncoats, down with the Purplebellies Britain votes to leave the EU. Stocks and the British pound are plummeting. Cameron's tenure is likely over. Scotland and Northern Ireland appear to have voted stay, meaning talk of secession is already being floated.
63 Xenophobia in the UK following Brexit hits ridiculous levels the woman in question is a white German who has lived in the UK for decades. This is your doing, Nigel Farage!
63 Trump's CBP tried unsuccessfully to get usernames and other details about a fake USCIS Twitter account which criticised him.
63Donald Trump has hit a 51% disapproval rating in in just eight days.
63Recently-elected French president Emanuel Macron wants to fight global warming and is inviting U.S. experts to France to help.
63Remember how back in July, the South Carolina Supreme Court tried to extend domestic violence protections to same-sex unmarried couples, but then stayed their own order when they realized they accidentally took them away from all unmarried couples? Well, they finally fixed their mistake; now all couples--married or unmarried, same-sex or opposite-sex--are covered equally by the state's domestic violence laws. This is surprisingly progressive news out of the Deep South, especially since all parties involved, even the state's Attorney General, agreed that it should happen; the only dispute was over the best way to do it.
63SloveniaGay Pride Flag.svg Slovenia legalizes same-sex marriage.
63 Singapore Gay Pride Flag.svg One step forward; Singapore set to decriminalise homosexuality. Predictably, religious and reactionary groups fall back to 'defend marriage'.
63BelgiumGay Pride Flag.svg Belgium bans conversion therapy.
63California bans reparative therapy for minors.
63Anti-vax mother changes her mind after all 7 of her children get whooping cough. And is quite brave to be public about it IMO.
62Roosh V cancels his meetings amid a global backlash against bullshit. Then he gets doxxed by Anonymous and makes a police complaint about the "threats" he's received. Bonus: The "King of Masculinity" lives in his mother's basement.
62United States Pew Research Center: "If recent trends in religious switching continue, Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population within a few decades."
62United StatesMeta's share price has fallen 26% in one day, wiping $230 billion off the company's value and $29 billion off Zuckerberg's personal wealth after reporting its first ever fall in worldwide users of its platforms including Facebook, Instagram & WhatsApp.
62Romania Andrew Tate has been indicted on charges of rape, human trafficking, and establishing a criminal gang.
61Water quality going down the crapper? We can fix that, says Wyoming, by making it illegal to measure water quality.
61Faux News's recurring "CIA terrorism specialist," Wayne Simmons, arrested for impersonating a CIA agent.
61After the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Donald Trump admitted to the Prime Minister of Australia that Australians have better healthcare. Ironically, Australia's universal healthcare system is called Medicare.
61United Kingdom Crown of Saint Edward (Heraldry).svg Queen Elizabeth II has died, aged 96 at Balmoral, Scotland. Her son, Charles goes by Charles III, now that he is King.
61European Union Russia The European Parliament has passed a resolution by 494 to 58, declaring that Russia is a state sponsor of terrorism. Plus it has put the Wagner GroupWikipedia on the list of terrorist organisations, giving it the same status as Hamas, Al-Qaida and ISIL.
61South KoreaGay Pride Flag.svg In a landmark ruling, a South Korean appeals court has held that government health insurance should offer spousal coverage to same-sex couples. This is the country's first legal recognition of social benefits for same-sex couples.
61the World UN report reveals that more children are surviving today than ever before, with the global under-5 mortality rate dropping by 51 per cent since 2000. Several low and lower-middle-income countries have outpaced this decline.
61Pregnancy From Rape Is 'Something God Intended. Will the stupid never stop?
61In Nevada, a brave Patriot a freeloading, self-centered dipshit named Cliven Bundy lets his cattle graze on government land illegally for the past 20 years, and now the government has confiscated his cows. Tea Party and libertarian whackers too lazy to fact-check make him out to be some sort of hero, and a militia group shows up to defend him. Unsurprisingly, Alex Jones is circle jerking to the news. Update: The BLM gives in to armed protesters. Not a good precedent.
60NJ jury rules that conversion therapy constitutes consumer fraud.
60Greece Leading figures in Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party found guilty of murder, gangsterism, and other crimes following what's called "the biggest trial of neo-fascists since the prosecution of the Nazis at Nuremberg".
60United StatesMichigan. Ex-Michigan governor Rick Snyder has been informed he will be facing charges for the Flint Water Crisis Update: Snyder is charged with with willful neglect of duty
60DenmarkThe far-left Red–Green Alliance has changed its long-held demand for a Danish referendum on European Union, in favour of reforming it for its 2019 Euro-election manifesto. Party spokesperson Pernille Skipper saying “It was a mistake. Brexit has been an eye-opener for us as a party."
60United StatesUtah. Conversion therapy banned in ultra-conservative Utah.
60United States Leaked US Supreme Court opinion suggests abortion law repeal. Interestingly, this is one of the rare times an opinion is "accidentally" revealed beforehand, leading to speculation that someone intentionally leaked it in hopes of pressuring SCOTUS to change their mind. It's unclear what this means on a State level, but expect a plethora of states (with a certain balance of legislators) suddenly deciding to criminalize abortions.
60United StatesNew York. Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury
60European Union Most EU countries are now expected to hit their 2030 solar targets years before 2030, fuelling optimism on efforts to bring down global emissions.
60United States Parler, a conservative Twitter wannabe social network, is shut down by new owner, saying "No reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conservatives is a viable business any more..." (News source)
60SwedenNATO The Nato military alliance formally welcomes its 32nd member; Sweden, ending over 200 years of formal Swedish neutrality.
60DOMA officially struck down by SCOTUS, declared unconstitutional as a violation of the Fifth Amendment. The court case, U.S. v. Windsor, was over the estate tax, claiming discrimination against a lesbian widow on basis of sex. Meanwhile,teabaggers' heads explode. ADDITIONAL GAYNESS: No decision on Prop 8 ruling,lower court ruling upheld, same sex marriage legal inCalifornia.
60In Pakistan, clerics issue a fatwa against honor killings.
59Welcome back Philae, nice to hear from you again
59With Prime Minister Theresa May fresh in power, the cabinet now consists of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary (presumably to see if he can actually get France to nuke Britain), and Philip Hammond as Chancellor of the Exchequer, with George Osborne resigning from the government entirely. Hammond immediately goes against the Brexiters' wishes by stating that it would take six years to leave.
59Military coup underway in Turkey. Update: the coup appears to be failing, only backed by a faction in the military. 2,839 soldiers have been arrested since the coup has failed. Erdogan is now requesting the US extradite Gulen, the Islamic cleric he believes inspired the coup. 6,000 people have now been reportedly arrested in the aftermath of the coup. 2.700 judges have also been removed from their positions.
59Vote up if you approve of the job United States President Barack Obama is doing or vote down if you disapprove. Vote neutral if you neither approve nor disapprove.
59The Trump administration has apparently banned the CDC from using words like "science-based", "evidence-based", "vulnerable", and "transgender" in any budget-related official documents.
59United States Steve Bannon steps down from Breitbart.
59United StatesRuth Bader Ginsburg announces that she's cancer free!
59United Kingdom After 45 days in office, Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister, to be replaced by ex-Chancellor (and runner up of previous election) Rishi Sunak.
59The Britons are set to pass gay marriage!
59Quakers running new Underground Railroad to help LGBT folk escape Uganda.
58Donald Trump looks to make a national database of Muslim Americans. No word yet on demanding they wear green crescents in public.
58United States SCOTUS rules in a 6 to 3 decision that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights ActWikipedia does protect workers from being fired because they are gay or transgender. (The opinion). Roberts and Gorsuch joined the four liberal judges in the majority.
58IsraelUnited StatesWhile the world was distracted by the US elections, Israel carried out the largest bulldozing operation against Palestinian homes in the last decade. They apparently hoped to avoid international criticism with their timing.
58United States Parler is now in severe difficulties, after the app stores Google Play, Apple App Store & Amazon Appstore removed the company's own app from their stores. Plus, Amazon's AWS has threatened to pull their hosting of the service due to possible violations of service. Update: Parler has now been booted off AWS.
58Well that didn't take long........"Leave" leaders walking away from Brexit promises
58Steve Bannon removed from National Security Council role.
58The Washington Post busts a transparent attempt by Project Veritas to trip them up in their investigation of Roy Moore's sex abuse scandal. Short version: a woman went to the Post claiming that Moore impregnated her as a teenager, and she was suspiciously interested in seeing to it that Moore lost his campaign for Senate. (Non-paywalled version, though still bitchy about adblock.)
58Proposition 8 overturned by federal judge.
58United StatesTexas. Connecticut. A judge has ordered Alex Jones to pay $100 000 in a defamation case against the parents of a 6-year-old victim of the Sandy Hook tragedy, which Jones claimed was a hoax.
58United KingdomChina British House of Commons declares Uighurs are being subjected to genocide in China and approves a motion calling on the government to fulfil its obligations under international human rights law.
58United States Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence has been raided by the FBI.
58United States Another crypto Ponzi scheme fails spectacularly, vaporizing US$10 billion. A Reckoning Awaits FTX. And as if this situation couldn't get any worse, OMG WE'VE BEEN HACKED!!!!1!
58With Obama's signature, DADT is gone!
58United StatesMSG Entertainment defends using facial recognition scan that flagged girl scout mom as security risk at a music hall. The kicker? She works for a law company suing MSG Entertainment. MSG took facial scans of the lawyers suing them and put it into their systems. People who say "if you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear" should pay attention to this. This woman had nothing to hide and she still was targeted.
58United Nationsthe World After two decades of consideration and talks, a treaty has been finalized to protect the oceans outside of territorial waters.
58Vatican Citythe World A large survey taken across 140 countries finds that Catholic women overwhelmingly want the church to reform its stances on LGBT issues, contraception, and women's issues. The study's results will be presented at the Vatican on International Women's Day. (Non-Paywall version.)
58The LGBT Jim Crow equivalent has been proposed in Kansas. Fucking hell.
58If Obama is for environmentalism -- or anything else, for that matter -- then we're against it in the stupidest way possible.
58Israel says "fuck you" to 20% of its population.
57California court rules that abstinence-only sex education is "medically inaccurate" and therefore unlawful under state law.
57Live coverage of the hundreds of thousands of protesters taking part in the Women's March in the US - and around the world. UPDATE: With US turnout numbers estimated at around 3.5 million people, this marks the single largest protest march in the history of the United States.vote poll=world15436>Live coverage of the hundreds of thousands of protesters taking part in the Women's March in the US - and around the world. UPDATE: With US turnout numbers estimated at around 3.5 million people, this marks the single largest protest march in the history of the United States.
57What the Hell is even going on anymore? White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, "You had someone who was despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons." When immediately called out by reporters in the room over holocaust denial, he fumbles the clarification, "Thank you, I appreciate that. There was not in the – he brought them into the Holocaust centers – I understand that. But I’m saying in the way that Assad used them, where he went into towns, dropped them down into the middle of towns." Also, note in the video he almost said "where he went into towns and dropped them to innocent", then managed corrected himself realizing how much worse he almost made it.
57United StatesNew York. Trump Organisation found guilty of tax crimes.
57United States Steve Bannon charged with contempt of Congress after his failure to appear for a deposition and hand over documents to the January 6 Attack House Select Committee.
57United States After 122 years and 200 failed attempts, the Senate unanimously passes a bill that specifically criminalizes lynching.
57United States Donald Trump has reportedly been indicted in the special counsel’s classified documents probe, marking the first time a former president has faced federal charges. Update: Per the unsealed indictment, the indictment includes 37 counts spread over seven charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, willful retention of national defense information, and multiple concealment charges.
57United StatesChina U.S. economy outpaces Chinese economy for the first time in 40 years
57Introducing the two latest contestants in the GOP's balls-to-the-wall batshit crazy contest -- state representative Jon Hubbard and candidate Charlie Fuqua, both of Arkansas. Hubbard has trotted out the old white-hood canard that slavery was good for the slaves, while Fuqua advocates in his book God's Law that all Muslims should be expelled from the US. Not satisfied with a tie, Fuqua has now gone the extra distance by advocating the death penalty for rebellious children. Take that, Todd Akin!!
57President Obama to parents doubting ‘indisputable’ science: ‘Get your kids vaccinated’
56House Democrats have proposed a bill that would update the Civil Rights Act to include LGBT people.
56Reformists in Iran win every seat in Tehran parliament. Guess they forgot to rig the vote the way they did a few years ago? Oh, they rigged this one too, but there are limits to how much you can rig while being "subtle".
56the World For the first time, wind and solar made up a majority of the world's new power generation
56United StatesThe two voting machine companies Smartmatic and Dominion are suing Fox News, Newsmax and OANN for defamation for claiming they rigged the presidential elections. The New York Times reports that this lawsuit could bankrupt the news channels.
56 Flag of Mars.svg Perseverance lands on Mars.
56United States The FCC votes to restore net neutrality.
56The first man to walk on another world, Neil Armstrong, has died at the age of 82. His family asks "Next time you walk outside on clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil and give him a wink."
5615% of Ohio Republicans believe Romney killed bin Laden.[No, not The Onion]
56After two years, a documentary about vaccination, made by high school students and suppressed by anti-vaxx activists, has finally been released.
56Bernie Sanders is officially running
55A Jewish terrorist stabbed an Israeli grocer, shouting, "You deserve it, you deserve it, Arab bastards!" The grocer is Jewish. A former director of Israel's security services reports that Jew-on-Arab terrorism is nearly never punished in Israel. But this stabber mistakenly stabbed a fellow Jew, so he might be in big trouble, even tho the grocer victim says it shouldn't matter whether he was an Arab or a Jew.
55United States Steve Bannon arrested for fraud. Apparently the crowdfunded border wall was a scam
55United States Joe Biden has been officially sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.
55Nigel Farage stands down as leader of UKIP.
55United KingdomUgandaA Ugandan-born woman becomes the first person in the UK to be found guilty of the crime of female genital mutilation for harm she did to her 3-year-old-daughter and is sentenced to 11 years in jail.
55United StatesTrump 28 Feb 2020: "The coronavirus is the Democrats' new hoax."

Trump 17 Mar 2020: "I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic."

UPDATE Trump 18 Mar 2020: "The coronavirus snuck up on us."
55Iran Protests erupt in Iran after woman dies in the custody of morality police.
55Netherlands Red awareness ribbon icon 2.svg In Amsterdam, a scheme offering PrEP to anyone has reported a 95% drop in new cases of HIV/AIDS since 2010. For example, there were 128 new cases in 2019, in 2022, there were just nine new cases.
55According to Rick Perry, "Satan runs wild across the world," and the separation of Church and State is hence Satan's fault.
55In view of the Hobby Lobby decision, the Satanic Temple strikes back by filing a lawsuit to exempt their followers from reading pro-life literature which is required in some states when planning to have an abortion. Their argument is that since their beliefs are solely based on scientific facts, and because much of this literature's content is not based on science, having to read it would inflict their freedom of religion.
55Charlie Hebdo: What do you do after much of your staff is murdered on the job? Cease publication? Suspend operations temporarily? How about publish next week's issue on schedule and print over 20 times the standard run.
54United StatesNorth Carolina. Neo-Nazi arrested in North Carolina hoped to assassinate Joe Biden, had a huge stockpile of guns and child pornography. Nasty guy.
54Canada United States Canada's national security minister Bill Blair is looking into whether making the Proud Boys group an official terrorist organization. That would put in the same category as Daesh and al-Qaida.
54United States And like clockwork the GOP loses an election and suddenly there are calls to promote “election integrity.”
54Inauguration desperation: the Trump team tries to shift surplus tickets by offering them for free and running paid Facebook ads that tell random users that "President-elect Trump wants to personally invite you." Even ticket scalpers are making a loss.
54Reuters instructs its staff to cover the Trump Presidency the same way it covers authoritarian regimes in other countries where journalists are routinely shut out, censored and harassed.
54Major Ku Klux Klan and Nazi Website Stormfront Has Been Kicked Offline
54United States Texas. InfoWars files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, due to the lawsuits in regards to the Sandy Hook shootings.
54Switzerland Gay Pride Flag.svg Hopp Schwiiz! Switzerland has voted by nearly two to one (64% to 36%) and in ALL 26 cantons to legalize same-sex marriage. Update: The Federal Council has said the first marriages could happen by July next year.
54 United States The leader of the Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes, and ten other people associated with the group, have been arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy of the 2021 U.S. Capital attack. CNN adds, "It destroys, once and for all, the talking point from those downplaying the events of January 6 that the attack on the Capitol wasn't an insurrection because nobody has been charged with sedition."
54United States Southern Baptist Convention membership continues to decline at record pace. Perhaps helped along by the sex abuse scandal.
54United StatesUtah. The Bible is banned in a Utah school district after complaint that it is "sex-ridden". This occurs as a result of "a 2022 state law requiring districts to include parents in decisions over what constitutes 'sensitive material.'" The law has been used to withhold other books from schools.
54RussiaSouth Africa South African government commits to arresting Vladimir Putin if he sets foot in country, per International Criminal Court obligations. A warrant for his arrest is to be issued. Putin decided not to attend the BRICS summit in South Africa in August, anticipating this.
54United States Donald Trump charged with 4 counts, including conspiring to defraud the US, over his handling of his 2020 election loss. Update: Of course, he has pleaded not guilty on all 4 counts
54Mexico Mexico's supreme court decriminalizes abortion nationwide.
54European UnionUkraine Some good news for Ukraine, Hungary finally caves and allows a €50 billion EU aid package for Ukraine to go through that Orbán previously threatened to veto.
54Another week, another Romney gaffe. And the shit just keeps on flowing.
54In the UK, religious schools will lose government funding if they don't teach evolution as a fact.
54Margaret Thatcher is dead.
54Sorry to rain on your parade, New Mexico: A federal judge has smashed another same-sex marriage ban. In Utah. Update: "The court agrees with Justice Scalia’s interpretation of Windsor and finds that the important federalism concerns at issue here are nevertheless insufficient to save a state-law prohibition that denies the Plaintiffs their rights." Yes, you read that correctly - Scalia's opinion was just used against him. (Grab some popcorn.)
54The much anticipated debate between Bill Nye and creationist whacker Ken Ham finally unfolds. Nye and science won.
54Here we go again: Six dead in a series of drive-by shootings and stabbings near UC Santa Barbara. (Gunman was the son of a Hollywood director and quoting the usual MRA spiel.) Update: An "incel" site is freaking. Update II: All guns legally purchased and registered. "When will this insanity stop?"
54Belgium gives homeopathy statutory regulation. Nobody meets statutory criteria. Homeopathy effectively banned. (Still operating until the statutory guillotine falls.)
54President Obama uses this year's turkey pardon to stick it to the GOP on immigration: "I am here to announce what I'm sure will be the most talked about executive action this month. Today, I am taking an action fully within my legal authority, the same kind of action taken by Democrats and Republican presidents before me, to spare the lives of two turkeys, Mac and Cheese, from a terrible and delicious fate. . . They'll get to live out the rest of their days respectively at a Virginia estate with 10,000 acres of roaming space. I know some will call this amnesty."
54Started a week ago, but in case you missed it: In what is called the biggest banking leak in history, over 50 media outlets around the world publish documents, showing that the Swiss arm of the HSBC bank actively helped their customers evade taxes in their home countries. Among them are high-value criminals and, on the same other side, prominent persons and wealthy donors of Clinton's charity or the British Tory party. Side note: The revelations came at a time when Ed Miliband was under fire for being “anti-business” because of his agenda against tax evasion by businesses. Now Cameron has to explain why he made the former HSBC boss Stephen Green his trade minister back in 2011, four months after the first evidence for misbehavior by HSBC was available to him; and why the British tax authority achieved four-times worse in enforcing tax repayals compared to France or Spain. Timeline of events leading up to this, Full story.
53 Yet another major "defeat for humanity" from a largely Catholic country: With little fanfare, Mexico's supreme court has ruled laws limiting marriage to heterosexuals discriminatory, effectively legalizing same-sex marriage. This means the Greatest Country on Earth will be the last country in North America, and one of the last in the developed world, to do the same.
53Obama plans mass clemency for nonviolent drug offenders.
53Armed Oregon militia led by Cliven Bundy's sons takes federal building in support of Hammond ranchers convicted of setting illegal fires on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property. Vow to stay, fight police.
53A paralyzed man has regained the ability to control his arm through a computer chip that was surgically implanted in his brain.
53Of all the people, Donald Trump supports transgender rights to use whichever bathroom they want, and criticized the North Carolina bathroom bill.
53United States The GOP's piggy bank, Sheldon Adelson, dead at 87.
53Justice prevails, as the right Schlafly beats the wrong Schlafly.
53A dinosaur's feathery tail was found preserved in amber.
53The Pope says "an atheist is better than a hypocritical Catholic."
53Widower murders naturopath who told his cancer-stricken wife 'chemotherapy is for losers'.
53Worst mass shooting by a single individual in the US, this time at a country music festival in Las Vegas. Currently tied with the Orlando shooting for number dead but far more injured (and the number of dead may rise). Third worst rampage killing of all time (behind Breivik and the Nice mass murders) The shooter was a wealthy real-estate investor.
53TaiwanTaiwan legalizes same-sex marriage in first for Asia
53IsraelBenjamin Netanyahu has just been indicted!
53United Kingdom Boris Johnson will resign as Conservative Party leader, and plans to stand down as Prime Minister in the Autumn after the election of his successor.
53Ukraine The Ukrainian Armed Forces have captured the strategically important city of Izyum in the east of the country, and are now heading towards Donetsk Airport.
53Russia Large protests have erupted in many Russian cities including St Petersburg, Moscow, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, and Irkutsk, plus a rush for airline tickets to leave the country, after Putin ordered partial military mobilization of Russia's reserve armed forces.
53Greece For the first time ever, for five hours on Friday, October 7th, Greece's electricity needs were fulfilled solely by renewable power, marking a milestone.
53United StatesNew York. R. Kelly found guilty of sex trafficking
53United StatesUS District Court orders Donald Trump to pay $937,989.39 to Hillary Clinton over frivolous lawsuits.
53United States Anti-Obamacare provisions in state constitutions backfire on conservatives; the "right to make [...] health care decisions" is interpreted by courts to cover abortion rights.
53United StatesTrans flag.svg Biggest-ever study of trans Americans found that 94% of them are happier after social transition, and 98% are happier after physical transition. (PDF of the full "early insights" report here.)
53Norway A Norwegian court has banned state funding for Jehovah's Witnesses.
53We currently cannot predict earthquakes, but when someone dies we need a scapegoat.
53According to Republican Washington state legislator Ed Orcutt, a proposed bicycle tax is essential because cyclists aren't environmentally friendly due to all the CO2 they exhale. "[b]icyclists need to start paying for the roads they ride on rather than make motorists pay".
53Croatian Constitutional Court upholds the constitutionality of mandatory vaccination of children, stating that the right of children to have good health is more important than the right of parents to make wrong decisions.(In English.)
53So, how bad is it to be an African-American in Ferguson, Missouri? In 2009, the Ferguson PD arrested and (allegedly) beat a man inside the police station after finding out that they had arrested the wrong man. Then they charged him with "property damage" -- Translation: Bleeding on their uniforms after they beat him.
53Well, gosh: crocoduck just showed up. Guess evolution must be true, then.
53Air Force: 'So help me God' in oath is optional
53Ohioan county jail threatens solitary confinement on a Muslim woman for refusing to go to Church; woman sues state for violating the constitution.
53Charlie Hebdo's Paris office was attacked by Islamists, 12 people dead. UPDATE: The shooters have reportedly been identified; one has reportedly turned himself into the police, claiming he was not in Paris the day of the shooting.
53Anti-vax book "Melanie’s Marvelous Measles" gets 800 one-star reviews on Amazon.
52Senate blocks bid to deny funds to Planned Parenthood.
52Not sure if real or The Onion... Trump puts up a plaque at a golf club he owns near the Potomac river, commemorating the "Many great American soldiers, both of the North and South, [that] died at this spot", and that they were so many that the river got called "The River of Blood". Problem is, it never happened. Trump responds: "“How would they know that?” Mr. Trump asked when told that local historians had called his plaque a fiction. “Were they there?”".
52Where’s Bernie? Media ignores Sanders though he’s more popular than Trump
52United States Gen Z pranks Trump by requesting tickets to a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20, 2020 by the hundreds of thousands. This inflated the expectations of the Trump campaign, and caused Trump to plan for an overflow stage, expecting massive crowds. Actual attendance was much, much lower than expected; the overflow stage was canceled, and Trump ended up speaking to a crowd of just an estimated 6200 (out of 19,200 capacity seats). Naturally the campaign denies it was anything to do with that - It was the evil leftists and online trolls! The astute might note that this is not actually exclusive of teens and K-pop fans.
52United States Pvt. Bonespurs, a patriot, honors the fallen: "Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers." Update: reports of Trump disparaging fallen and wounded service members confirmed by the Associated Press. Update (!!): Et tu, Fox News?!
52United Statesthe World Facebook bans QAnon across its platforms.
52A Texas law making abortions more difficult was found unconstitutional.
52Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia criticized by 36 countries over human rights.
52FranceFrench cardinal convicted of child sex abuse cover-up.
52Israel He's out! Benjamin Netanyahu has been ousted as prime minister of Israel, however far-right politician Naftali Bennett has been sworn in as prime minister.
52United States the World Lesbian Pride Flag 2019.svg Disney refuses to cut a scene of two women in love kissing from the animated film Lightyear, even though that scene has already led to the film getting banned in 14 countries and is likely to get it banned in more.
52Netherlands Dutch scientists have found that anti-5G "quantum pendants" emit dangerous levels of ionizing radiation - in other words they're radioactive.
52United StatesEuropean Union NASA's $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope launches on epic mission to study early universe
52Finland NATO For the first time ever, polling in Finland has shown a majority of Finns supporting the country joining NATO, with 53% saying yes to 28% saying no.
52France PMC Wagner Center logo.png France's National Assembly has voted unanimously by all of its deputies, a resolution on the calling on the European Union to formally label Russian mercenary force Wagner a "terrorist group". In response to the call, the head of Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin, has responded by threatening to pull all the teeth out of French president Emmanuel Macron.
52United States Pat Robertson of The 700 Club has died at the age of 93.
52The White House's response to the Death Star petition is made of win. Update: Best comment so far.
52Years of scientific research being burned and lost in Canada. Claims that it's all backed up digitally are proving to be untrue. It's almost as if the Harper government is afraid of the data.
52On Christmas day, Neil deGrasse Tyson posted this tweet and Christian fundamentalists lost their collective shit guaranteeing increased coverage. On the 27th, NDT commented on the kerfuffle and the fun continued (including in the Facebook comment section at the bottom of the page).
52Chimpanzees in Fongoli, Senegal, have invented spears.
51Nigeria bans female genital mutilation.
51The EU parliament approves a resolution that calls on the member states to drop charges against Edward Snowden.
51Leaked documents reveal that members of the Dothan, Alabama police force belonged to a Neoconfederate organization, and routinely planted drugs on young black men with the cooperation of the district attorney.
51SwedenUnited StatesHungaryTurkey A study from the University of Gothenburg has found that, since the year 2000, the Republican Party has abandoned upholding democratic norms and resembles nationalist parties in autocratic nations like in Hungary and Turkey
51 Hate crimes in the UK up 57% according to Huffington Post following Brexit vote
51Trump Jr. admits he met with a Russian lawyer with Kremlin ties during the 2016 election to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. This statement could place him in legal trouble.
51Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has been indicted on charges that he funneled millions of dollars through overseas shell companies. Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign official, has also surrendered to federal authorities. The indictment of Manafort and Gates makes no mention of Trump or election meddling. Update: Trump's response: "Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus????? ....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!"
51United StatesVenezuela Venezuela has put down an attempted invasion from pro-Guaidó rebels. The force, backed by American paramilitary security firm, SilverCorp, was reduced in size over the past month from 300 to 60 due to the Coronavirus outbreak and the arrest of the rebel leader for drug smuggling. The subsequent invasion was publicly announced on Twitter, and presently Venezuelan authorities are holding thirteen, including two Americans, on terrorism charges. Further stupidity: It's actually more absurd than just the Twitter announcement. On 1 May, the Associated Press reported on these chuckle heads' idiotic plot to invade Venezuela. On 3 May, they tried to carry the plot out, after the Associated press reported all about it.
51United Statesthe World Solar and wind costs have fallen enough in the United States that roughly ¾ of of coal capacity is at risk from renewable competition, and by 2025 this is expected to rise to 6/7. Furthermore, while the US acquired nearly half of its electricity from coal just a decade ago, in just another year it's expected to be just a quarter. Wind is also expected to produce more energy than hydro in the US in just a short time as well.
51United KingdomSuspending Parliament was unlawful, the Supreme Court rules.
51United States South Carolina. The Supreme Court of South Carolina has struck down the state's abortion ban, saying it breaks the state's constitutional right to privacy.
51RussiaEuropean Union Putin tried to blackmail Europe by cutting off Russian gas. But Europe successfully found alternatives and couldn't be blackmailed.
51LatviaGay Pride Flag.svg Latvia's parliament legalizes gay civil unions.
51North Carolina's Tea Party-dominated legislature moves to criminalize accurate predictions of sea level rise. Trends: they don't work that way.
51Former Green Bay Packer LeRoy Butler was scheduled to give a lecture at a local church on Tuesday night. Butler's presentation was cancelled after he tweeted congratulations to Jason Collins for coming out of the closet. The pastor told Butler that he would only be allowed to give his presentation if he retracted the tweet and asked Gawd for forgiveness. The subject of that night's discussion? Bullying.
51Jordan votes to repeal its "marry the rapist" law.
51FUCK! The Professional Standards Authority has accredited the Society of Homeopaths as a holder of an approved voluntary register of health-care practitioners. (UK) What is this country coming to?
51In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada has struck down laws against assisted suicide
51Oklahoma GOP lawmakers protecting your precious kids from that there book larnin': they have literally passed emergency legislation to ban AP US History classes, partially on the grounds that it's not nothing but pro-US propaganda. Some want to ban all AP classes. UPDATE: Instead, students would have to study the 10 Commandments and speeches by Saint Ronnie.
51Score a win for net neutrality Update: That didn't take long Update: Now verizon starts trolling.
50 Burning socialist Bernie Sanders attracts larger crowds than any other 2016 presidential candidate. And while we are at it, rabblerouser Elizabeth Warren continues to attract cheering crowds even if she is not running.
50...except that the preschool teacher made it up.
5030% of Republicans support bombing Agrabah. Agrabah is the fictional sultanate of Disney's Aladdin. Also, 41% of Trump supporters. 19% of Democrats.
50A grand jury in Texas has cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing in the video manufactroversy, and surprisingly indicts two of their accusers.
50Massive amount of news comes out of Israel: The UN condemns the occupation of the Palestinian territories and in response France proposes peace talks and threatens to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state if they fail. There is hope that, according to the UN, that Israel and Iran are likely to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Also the Snowden reveals that the US and UK have been hacking Israeli drones in order to spy on the IDF.
50In the ongoing process of becoming an increasingly totalitarian state, Turkey's government seeks to drop secularism from its constitution. The reasons given are that Muslim countries apparently require religious constitutions and except for two other countries, other nations don't explicitly mention secularism in their constitutions either. It's also blasphemous that the text doesn't mention His name even once.
50United StatesNew York. New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced that she has filed a lawsuit against the National Rifle Association and four individuals, including longtime leader Wayne LaPierre, seeking to dissolve the gun rights advocacy group for "diverting charitable funds to support wasteful spending."
5050 dead, 53 wounded in mass shooting at Florida gay club. Shooter is reported to be American-born Muslim. A speaker at a mosque about 20 miles from the massacre site quoted a text advocating killing gays, 'out of compassion'. It's not clear if Farrokh Sekaleshfar quoted that text at the nearby mosque or elsewhere.
50The Washington DC Metro (subway) confirms that the Women's March on Washington gave them their second busiest day ever on Saturday, second only to President Obama's Inauguration Day in 2009. By comparison, Donald Trump's Inauguration Day on Friday generated slightly fewer journeys than the average for a normal weekday.
50Donald Trump's approval ratings drop to 37% less than three months into his presidency.
50Chelsea Manning has been released from prison.
50As Trump’s problems mount, Breitbart’s numbers are cratering.
50United StatesJames Fields, the man who drove his car into a crowd of counterprotestors at the Unite the Right rally, has been sentenced to life in prison.
50United States We're all weeping; Alex Jones files for personal bankruptcy after trying to hide his assets among relatives and friends.
50United StatesTexas. A Texas judge finds Alex Jones liable for damages in three defamation lawsuits brought by the parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre over his claims that the shooting was a hoax. The cases now head to trial for juries to determine the amount Jones will have to pay the families.
50United States California. Medical start-up Theranos’ founder Elizabeth Holmes has been found guilty of three counts of wire fraud and one account of conspiracy to commit wire fraud against investors. She could face up to 80 years in jail.
50United States US authorities believe it is "very unlikely" that a mysterious illness dubbed "Havana Syndrome" is caused by a hostile foreign power
50United States US Senate votes to repeal Iraq war authorizations.
50United States Donald Trump has been arrested and has pleaded not guilty. He was fingerprinted, but no mug shot was taken.
50India High growth and unprecedent decline in inequality have combined to eliminate extreme poverty in India, which represented 50% of the population 30 years ago. The country should now graduate to a higher poverty line, which would provide an opportunity to redefine existing social protection programs in order to give greater support to the genuine poor.
50United StatesGreylien.png Pentagon report finds no evidence of alien visits, hidden spacecraft: Claims about secret government programs reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology are based on “circular reporting” and hearsay, investigators found.
50United StatesFlorida. Gay Pride Flag.svg A legal settlement on Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law has been reached. The settlement allows that sexual orientation and gender identity may be discussed in classrooms as long as it isn't part of the class's formal instruction. This allows, for instance, for Gay-Straight Alliances to exist in schools, for teachers to openly identify themselves as gay or transgender, and for books with LGBT+ themes to be stocked in school libraries.
50Obama to Trump: Go fuck yourself. lol. (Seth Meyers, on the other hand doesn't pull any punches.)
50Faux News, classy as ever, blames the Norwegian attacks on "Muslim extremists", then segues straight into a story on the Ground Zero Mosque. Here's the twist: the lead suspect is a blond, blue eyed, right-wing Christian fundamentalist with anti-Muslim views.
50Sometimes you can't make this shit up: Rick Santorum Says "Smart People Will Never Be On Our Side"
50Madiba has passed away at 95.
50Female Texas Judge declares raped teen not a victim, because she wasn't a virgin at the time.
50A kid tries to come out as gay. His family is less than understanding. Watch the video only if you want to feel depressed. The last couple of minutes are particularly painful. You can help him live without the bigots here if you feel moved enough.
50Take us down the slippery slope, part umpteen: Now the aftermath of the Hobby Lobby decision now extends to allowing the refusal of subpoenas due to violation of religious beliefs.
50Malala Yousafzai shares the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
50Sorry, Harry Reid, you're too Democratic to be a Mormon.
50Barack Obama calls for end to 'conversion therapies' for LGBT youth