RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/June 2014

June 2014
IRS shoved a giant middle finger up the ass of the Free Open Source Software community. Israel-Palestine relations: November 2012 all over again. Because when the SCOTUS makes the rest of the Western legal world shake their heads in disbelief, [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/business/supreme-court-ruling-on-public-workers-and-union-fees.html? they do it in twos.] Corporate personhood, meet religious fundamentalism. America is the place for you. Update: The caveat, as predicted: The conservative majority seems to have inserted "get the government to fund it" as a safety valve. (Let's see if it works, because the Scientologists are coming anyway.) Jenny McCarthy finally fired from not renewed for The View... along with a host who didn't know the earth was round. Does anyone need a reminder that mercenaries are a bad idea? Mercenaries are a bad idea. On second thought, let's intervene in Iraq as little as possible. (Here's why.) The Vatican discovers most of their followers are in the cafeteria. How Did the FBI Miss Over 1 Million Rapes? South Carolina police chief, fired for being lesbian, reinstated. Michigan State House GOP candidate: Ignore my arrests for public masturbation in other people’s cars. (Yes, he is the sole Republican candidate for the position.) WHERE DO THEY FIND THESE PEOPLE The NC legislature passes a bill allowing cruelty to opossums during the New Year's week all to prevent a legal challenge to the cruel "Opossum Drop" event. Another "liberal media" story: "If You Were An Iraq War Critic, You're Probably Not Being Asked To Go On TV." So nice to see the "Liberal media" giving Flat Earthers a voice. CNBC seeks Op-Ed on “global warming being a hoax”. Male reporter molested at Men's rights conference $400 billion dollars spent (the equivalent of two International Space Stations), years overdue in development, and the reality that will make every defence hawk cry. Obama asks Congress for $500m to train 'moderate' Syrian rebels Responsible gun owner discharges gun on children OK gun range owner insists howitzer fired safely after shell blasts house 3 miles away Ukraine gives Putin the finger. U.S. Supreme Court bars laws prohibiting anti-abortion activists from obstructing abortion clinic entrances while protesting. (Meanwhile, the Hobby Lobby trainwreck will be decided on Monday.) If only modern Republicans had half as much integrity. Things the Bush administration probably did not foresee in 2003: An independent Iraq buying fighter jets from Russia. The NSA is anti-business. Faux News take a dump all over... Michele Bachmann. New pterosaur species found to live in social groups. House GOP plan to sue Obama Administration over executive actions. (Well, if you want to prove to everyone that you're desperate, sure.) 16-0 the score as a federal judge throws out Indiana's anti-gay marriage laws. In addition, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules Utah's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. Releasing lost souls and dark energy from your real estate has never been easier. In a unanimous ruling, the US Supreme Court prohibits warrantless searches of cellphones. Finland celebrates Pride Month by choosing to remain ín the 20th century. King of the birthers, WND's Joseph Farah, arrested for trying to carry a loaded gun on to an airplane. "An unidentified spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry said in state media that if the U.S. government doesn't block the release of The Interview (a comedy about a plot to assassinate leader Kim Jong-un, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco), it would be considered an 'act of war.'" In Nigeria you can get committed to a mental institution for being an atheist How about this: Unlike Eric Cantor, Thad Cochran just survived in his primary against a flaming ball of crazy by embracing Democratic and black voters (the first time a Southern Republican may have done so in decades). And the flaming ball of crazy won't concede. "Bridgegate" Episode V: The Bridge Strikes Back. Men's rights group fraudulently uses the names of women's rights and queer rights organisations in charity application Federal court upholds New York City school policy allowing schools to bar unvaccinated students. World's Richest Third-World Country decides cholera totally isn't a thing that ever happened, and if it did then the rich are in no danger from a large pool of poor people with diseases. "I'm sorry, you can't enter the Democratic National Committee headquarters right now. The staff has achieved Nirvana." (Just in time for this baby.) The conservative-approved method for reducing the number of school shootings: redefine what a "school shooting" is! Meet the new robot security guard new minion of your robot overlord. [http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-extends-stand-ground-include-warning-shots/story?id=24244906 Florida extends 'Stand Your Ground' to include warning shots. (Warning: Autoplay Video)] When the CIA produced demon-faced Osama bin Laden action figures Japan finally outlaws child pornography. Unless it's in manga, anime or games. Oh, and you have a one year grace period to get rid of your stash. Hillary Clinton, as a young lawyer, did a good job in 1975. 39 years later, manufactroversy and cant: "Why aren't you guys giving this rape victim a voice?" Remember a Chicago area Tea Bagger U.S. Representative named Joe Walsh who served in the previous (2011-12) Congress? He was one of the anti-Obama crowd who slept in his U.S. Capitol office in order to avoid paying rent for a Beltway apartment. He was also famous for being a family values candidate while owing $117,000 in back child support. Well, he just got kicked off of his own right-wing radio show for being too racist on the air. For years, France has been expelling tens of thousands of Roma en masse because of a racist backlash that has enveloped many European countries. Now a Roma boy has been beaten into a coma. A satisfyingly low turnout for NOM's March For Marriage. (And Presbyterians vote to allow gay marriage.)

The CDC makes a very rare fuck-up. Scott Walker is totally not a crook. Refusing to understand the US Consul can only do so much so quickly, and believing the US Army will release a suspected deserter without questioning him (Because Obummer), fifty bikers wish to provoke an international incident.

Astronomers get Venus envy, build "Extremely Large Telescope". You know, if you have to tell everyone it's big... How do you catch a doomsday prepping, bomb building, murder planning fugitive? With the shakes that'll make him quake. The fries that'll cross his eyes. The burgers that...um...well, the FBI just had burgers. Farewell, Paxman, ya crazy bastard. The UK has officially banned creationism from being taught in science classes.. Someone check Glenn Beck's batteries, because his clock has STOPPED. I herd u liek Goats. It was bound to happen: After Native Americans wage a badass campaign to change the name of the Washington Redskins, the owners now have to seriously consider it. (Speaking of patents...) This is all just an effort to distract attention from Benghazi. "The deadly burglary raised questions about the wisdom of Americans clergy possessing weapons." Senator Claire McCaskill punches Mehmet Oz in the face! (metaphorically) It's Cattle mutilation, only of sheep. In England. Probably by aliens.

Benefits of the nuclear option: Meet your new, gay, black federal judges. I am shocked, SHOCKED to discover insider trading in this economy. Antonin Scalia: school prayer is like the devil's music. In the ongoing war on teachers, a judge in California resorts to statistics that are pulled out of thin air to strike down tenure. Whooping Cough is now an epidemic in California. Thanks a lot anti-vaxxers! Obama to sign executive order banning federal government contractors from discriminating against gay and transgender workers. Right-wing meltdown coming soon. WIGO-writers will have to, over the next little while, find ways to say "It's getting worse in Iraq" without repeating themselves. Update: How about this? "Hello, Ayatollah. My enemy's enemy..." Jamaica to decriminalize ganja for personal use. The 15-year-old boy who engaged in a school shooting earlier this week was described by his church elder as "highly spiritual" and wrote about killing "sinners" in his diary. Bitcoin, our modern-day sandbox/universe-in-a-jar of libertarian economics, finally experiences the paradox of unregulated, "free" markets. ("The knee-jerk reaction from the Bitcoin lunatic fringe will be to try to minimize the issue... It's time for a hard fork.") Update: Bitcoin's "chief scientist": [https://bitcoinfoundation.org/2014/06/13/centralized-mining/ If we're all going to eventually get fucked by this, you know, shit happens. *shrugs*] The Supreme Court of Canuckistan does it again: Warrantless collection of customer data declared unconstitutional. No money to pay the truancy fines for your 7 children? We'll stick you in jail for a few days to contemplate the error of your ways. What could possibly go wrong? What happens when your economic "plan" is devised by AEI hacks. Additionally, Ontario has now elected their first female Premier and the first openly gay Premier in Canada. Canadian city asks provincial and federal governments to ban fetus-porn pro-life ads.

Things the GOP blame on Obama #76,756,463: Eric Cantor's defeat. Hey, remember when we invaded Iraq? I wonder how that turned out? [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10895007/Repent-or-die-al-Qaeda-forces-announce-rules-for-Iraqi-territory-they-now-control.html Not well. Not well at all.] The guy who shot up Las Vegas was a huge Alex Jones fan. (Bonus clog included: Jones is calling the incident a false flag staged by Harry Reid). Guess which US news network has dropped all coverage of the Teabagger cop killers. Some lucky copper is about to have the best day of his life. Of the $830 billion the US spent on Iraq, 93% went to the Pentagon while 6% to the State Department/USAID. The results. Mother of God. The House Majority Leader has lost his seat in the primary against a Teabagger. Starting in 2015, there will be zero Jewish Republicans in Congress. (There must be some quote out there pertaining to "unforseen consequences.") Update: Welcome to 1968. It's gonna be fun. Canada and the USA now seem to be engaged in a competition over who can manage the most shootings. No, seriously. At what point are mass shootings no longer to be considered "news", but merely every day events like car crashes? Archbishop seriously claims he didn't know if raping children was against the law. Really. UK Muslim extremists have been taking over schools intimidating head teachers and staff in those schools extremism was taught and girls faced discrimination. South Carolina governor wishes to ban a African-American biker event, but nothing similar is said on a white biker event. Sheriff bought armored car for law enforcement from army surplus; everone goes nuts one way or another. Virginia GOP resorts to outright bribery of a Democratic state senator in order to derail the expansion of Obamacare and Medicare in the state. (Of course, the asshole took them up on the offer). Russia keeps forgetting these aren't her colonies anymore Don't mix sport with politics, unless you are the Argentinian National Football Team. Rik Mayall, a true comedy great dies, aged 56. the utter utter b'stard. Evolutionary biology is BLATANT MISANDRY: men evolved specifically for you to PUNCH THEM IN THE FACE! (why evolution failed to protect men from a knee in the veg basket is, presumably, the subject of a different paper altogether) Update: No, they didn't.. At what point, exactly, do mass shootings stop becoming "news"? Belgium gives homeopathy statutory regulation. Nobody meets statutory criteria. Homeopathy effectively banned. (Still operating until the statutory guillotine falls.) Turing test, passed apparently. (Update : not so much) Rapes happen accidentally, according to minister Ramsevak Paikra, responsible for law and order in India’s central Chhattisgarh state. Meet the post-Rick Perry Republican Party of Texas.

Unexpected effect of global warming #1: Exhuming Pacific War dead. While we're on the subject of guns, a sovereign citizen tries to take over a Georgia courthouse, doesn't get very far. Wisconsin becomes the latest state to rule in favor of marriage equality. In related news, there are now lawsuits in progress in every state that still bans same-sex marriage. There's still remnants of sanity in Iran.

Libya apologizes for detaining a man for black magic. What time is it? Campus shooting time, again! (It appears that the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with... pepper spray.) Three Mounties are killed, two others shot in Moncton, New Brunswick. Manhunt on for what appears to be the typical gun nut; city had zero homicides in 2012. Update: It's over. Bastard's in custody. Another example of the Catholic Church's attitude towards the sanctity of life. Could be the worst example of the Magdalene laundries thus far. 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. Let's hope that it isn't suppressed for another 25. So much for the NRA's apparent moment of sanity. Only a Mormon can call a Mormon Mormon... RIP Alexander Shulgin. And the latest moral panic is...Slenderman. It's official: The era of the gas-guzzler is ending. Improving the sanitation system in developing countries is important for various reasons, including privacy/safety/women's concerns, as this latest atrocity illustrates.

Worker in Tennessee cotton warehouse records his boss's efforts at private-enterprise segregation, complete with white-only water fountains. BLATANT MISANDRY: People get themselves killed by hurricanes because they think the female-named ones are harmless. U of I and Arizona State researchers even suggest reconsidering the practice of hurricane naming. (Hurricane Asskicker? Hurricane Skullcrusher? Hurricane Poochsodomizer?) Juan Carlos I continues the trend of abdicating instead of waiting til death. Tomorrow could be one the EPA's most important moments. Update: Not a bad start. In Pakistan, clerics issue a fatwa against honor killings.