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

May 2014
$5 million in bribe money was exchanged to get Qatar to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. So, so shocked! Bring on the comet, baby! Update: Meanwhile, Japan may be seriously considering opening its borders. Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag has been sentenced to 100 lashes and death in Sudan for apostasy; and forced to give birth 'with her legs chained'. Amnesty International UK are running a petition, although the site seems to be overloaded right now. SpaceX unveils the human-carrying version of their Dragon capsule. Now they only need to actually fly it... Update: Some more shiny pictures. Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland: why hate Catholics when you can hate the UK's highest-ranking Chinese politician? The war in Iraq still ain't over. Remember the guy who didn't show up for NFL scouts because God told him he'd be drafted for sure if he didn't? It's a creepier story than you expect at first. Maybe his aunt now regrets saying "Are you going to trust in [doctors] or trust in God?" RIP, Maya Angelou. "Somebody check if there's a 46Q with the surname 'Libby.'" Gays shouldn't have the same rights to promote their viewpoints as everyone else. But I'm totally liberal, though. Ukraine military gets its act together at Donetsk Airport. But note also the increased reports of Russians taking part without much effort at disguise. Update: Here we go again. From the department of "It seemed liked a good idea at time," Shooting range gets liquor license. Pray to God what the Chinese just did doesn't result in a war. Glenn Greenwald is about to drop a bomb, apparently. 'Green' Billionaire Announces Plans to Go After 'Anti-Science' Republicans. Meanwhile, consensus candidate easily wins election in Ukraine, with the far-right reduced to 2% of the vote. Guess who lied out of his ass again. First European Parliament elections since eurozone crisis: Group of over 100 proto-fascists and far-left loons now set to disrupt the other 600 members doing any actual work. Countries wilfully prepared to embarrass themselves: France, Denmark, Greece, Austria and surprise, the Brits. Faux News once again wallows in the mire: Shooter acted because he "could not cope with his 'homosexual impulses'.” Here 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?" The UKIP does scarily well in local council elections. So much so, that some Tories are starting to mutter about a pact with the UKIP in 2015. Police bust a major child porn ring, thanks to the collection of child porn videos, found on an Orthodox rabbi's computer. Reportedly, Fred Phelps was kicked out of the Westboro Baptist Church shortly before his death because he had a change of heart, coming out in favour of LGBT rights. If true, it means anyone can change. Insert 2010: The Year We Make Contact jokes here. Tennessee brings back Ol' Sparky. Republicans vote to prevent the Pentagon from using funding to address the national security impacts of climate change. Results are coming in on the British local elections. Conservatives are doing badly, Lib Dems doing terribly in comparison to 2010. Meanwhile Labour makes greatest overall gains and UKIP makes greatest proportional gains. You've seen it coming: coup d'etat in Thailand by Chan-ocha's military junta. NBA owner afraid of black guys wearing hoodies. Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth. Meet Asa Hutchinson, Republican candidate for the governor of Arkansas. He supports voter ID laws meant to make sure poor people are not allowed to vote. Hutchinson went to vote, only to find he forgot his ID at home, and was not allowed to vote, until he sent a staffer to get his ID for him. UKIP's cunning plan to prove itself totally not racist by flaunting its ethnic minority members falls flat in a disastrous "carnival" event on the streets of Croydon complete with protesters, terrible PR, alienated locals, an unhappy and unpaid band, and a party leader who stayed the hell away from it. Remember when Oklahoma voted to ban Sharia law from their state constitution? Oops. The GOP puts their stooges back in their place. (Zing!) Seems it's not just the Catholic Church that's good at covering up the rape of children... An indie movie adaptation of Jack Chick's anti-roleplaying game comic Dark Dungeons has potential to be awesome.

Flooding and landslides in Bosnia-Herzegovina claim many victims in one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes caused by a natural disaster that Europe has faced in decades. Donations can go to the Red Cross to provide such essentials as potable water for those affected. New study out of New Zealand confirms that there is no link between water fluoridation and reduced IQ. The dominoes continue to fall. Pennsylvania judge John E. Jones III (recommended by Santorum!) declares gay marriage prohibition unconstitutional. Prosecutors knowingly sent innocent man to prison for 25 years The victim is African American, is that relevant? Prosecutors are judged for securing convictions, not for securing justice. Yet another coup in Thailand (although they're not calling it that). Also, Martial Law selfies are now a thing. Dinesh D'Souza: Soon-to-be convicted felon. Update: He's a crook! Judges are now striking down a gay marriage ban once a week. Slow down, we're trying to catch up. In some parts of the USA, criminal defendants have to pay for such things as a jury and arrest warrants. That's right, you can bribe have to pay for your jury. Apple is being sued in a class-action lawsuit for holding text messages hostage when a user switches from Apple to another OS. After a vote for a college president is postponed due to allegations of sexual harassment, MRAs make it a pet cause and offer advice on how to rape drunk women. Bryan College demands faculty affirm that Adam and Eve were real, loses 9 of their 44 professors, students not happy. Southern Baptist Convention: They're here, they're queer, they're in our churches and we may as well just put up with it now A New York City minister has agreed to repay $1.2 million after taking funds raised by the church to benefit 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina victims and spending it on a BMW and a new house for his family. An incident worthy of the "-gate" suffix: A supporter of a Teabagger primary challenge against a (Mississippi GOP) incumbent breaks into the nursing home of the Senator's vegetative wife and shoots video. The cops have the guy's laptop, and the campaign knew what happened before the arrest went public. Thanks to Pamela Geller: DC buses. Now with MOAR HITLER! Concern grows over the rise of Buddhist fundamentalism/ African leaders declare war on Boko Haram Mike Adams of NaturalNews is making legal threats against a Forbes blogger, and Forbes itself, for documenting his gibbering lunacy. (Response from Adams, response from original threatened author.) And a Discover Magazine blogger says nice things about RW. It was bound to happen: the Bitcoin Foundation is imploding. Operation American Spring: People turn up in their tens to overthrow the government. (UPDATE: American government remains non-overthrown.) US conservative groups call porn consumption a "major public health crisis".

Hindu nationalists win a majority in the largest election in history. (Let's just hope they're not this bad.) With China slapping Vietnam once again, just guess what  brilliant idea the Japanese government [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/16/world/asia/japan-moves-to-scale-back-postwar-restrictions-on-the-use-of-military-power.html? wants to try.] Right-wing cranks plan to march on Washington D.C. this Friday to unseat the President, in "Operation American Spring." Get your popcorn ready! Obama's people were not too happy when he won the Nobel Peace Prize. British police lambasted by judges and activists for using spurious arrests and draconian bail conditions to stifle peaceful anti-fracking protests. The 11 years of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's rule in a nutshell. How to get your university noticed: Dean who criticizes an "open and transparent" budget cuts process gets fired, stripped of tenure and banned from campus for life. Update: Backtrack time! Measles Vaccines cure cancer! The FCC just opened up the proposal. Better make sure they won't do something stupid. Ken Ham and Pat Robertson are at each others' throats again. UPDATE: [http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ken-ham-challenges-pat-robertson-debate-young-earth-creationism Oh please! Oh please! Oh please!] Atheists, humanists and religious allies raise over $900,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Those damn do-gooder atheists. Dmitry "Medvedev" Rogozin: Shutdown the ISS! Teachers at Roman Catholic schools in many parts of the USA must sign a contract promising to toe the Church's line on social and reproductive matters - even away from work. Why the Supreme Court can't be trusted with tech cases. The continuing emergence of the welfare rancher state. United States children are exploited working on tobacco farms. We're on a roll: Idaho's gay marriage ban is gone - and Antonin Scalia is now reduced to a punchline. The FCC gets a taste of its own medicine— a website throttles their Internet to 1994 speed. EU court confirms right to disappear from internet. Totally non-evil data mining business cries censorship. Conspiracy theorist stoops to new low - telling the mother of a Sandy hook victim that her daughter never existed. Ok, the NBA really needs to explain how this guy was tolerated for three decades. West Antarctica glacier melt has "passed the point of no return" A lesbian threw chocolates at an exorcist priest's head. The priest knew the devil possessed the woman because he was homophobic due to her characteristic Satanic growl. John Oliver hosts a statistically proportional debate on Global warming featuring Bill Nye. It's more verbal beatdown. [http://m.bbc.com/news/technology-27343076 Killer. Fucking. Robots.] Bearded Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst wins Eurovision Song Contest. Russia shits itself. "Can someone explain to me why we've had a huge uptick of San Francisco tourists to Missouri over the summer?" Tomorrow's North American headline news. Arkansas' same-sex marriage ban falls. How many states does that make now? Canadian Liberals must now walk the party line on abortion. Texas GOP candidate Dan Patrick: It’s a ‘myth’ that Planned Parenthood does ‘anything’ for women’s health. Relevant to our interests: 8-legged goat born.

Thai Supreme Court dismisses Prime Minister; demonstrations and/or riots may ensue. Has he blinked? Putin tells separatists in eastern Ukraine to stop its secession referendum. (NATO's reaction.) Update: And now back to "anything can happen." Hanlon's razor. Evangelicals bone up their ‘raising the dead’ skills Another of the Phelps cult has flown the coop. Louie Gohmert: Constitution only protects Americans who ‘cling to God and guns’.

Happy now Jenny? One of the world's worst-kept foreign policy secrets revealed: China is preparing for a potential toppling of Kim Jong-un. The real Crimean referendum numbers accidentally get published: Only 50% voted for annexation out of a 30% turnout. Oops. (google-translation of original Russian page) [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27286742 Ya wanna hang with us? Don't cuss!] More pieces being chipped out of the wall between church and state. Tennessee state senator Stacey Campfield compares signing up for Obamacare to Nazi ‘train rides for Jews’ Female Texas Judge declares raped teen not a victim, because she wasn't a virgin at the time. LV Metro Police sponsors pro-abstinence "education" event that involves body-bags. Gerry Adams released by the police "When UKIP was under attack/Old Nigel prepared to fight back/We're clearly not racist/He said, on the basis/That some of our people are black." 38% of rape victims are men, survey finds NewsCorp buys Harlequin. Yes, that Harlequin. (it's a romance novel publisher, for the 98% of us that didn't automatically know.)

Another day, another embarrassingly bonkers UKIP candidate: UKIP candidate who called David Cameron a ‘gay loving nutcase’ suspended. Be warned: the CAPS LOCK is almost as bad as the homophobia. Farage has literally claimed nutpicking: that the media are unfairly persecuting him by accurately reporting what his party's candidates are saying on social media. 77-year-old Michigan pastor convicted of rape and sexual abuse of three underage girls. According to a prosecutor there was family pressure and pressure in the church to keep things quiet.

Well, well, well, Jeremy Clarkson. The Satanic Temple's plan for an accompaniment to the Oklahoma Statehouse's Ten Commandments statue is moving right along. Long live the goat! Boulder, Colorado-based youth pastor Jason Roberson pleads guilty to charges of sexual exploitation of children and stalking. Remember this was based on the Injustice System of plea bargaining. Julia Gasper, who when she was with UKIP told gay people they needed to "stop complaining and start thanking straight people" for being born, is now with the even more pointless English Democrats party and reckons there's too many gay people in Parliament, and that organisers of Gay History Month have overstated the persecution of gay people in the Holocaust: "Move over, Anne Frank, we are the real victims." Lovely. Oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the UK has been going for 10,000 years. What price the 6,000 year old earth now? Toronto, May 1: The political equivalent of Revelation. Update: Oh yes, Revelation.