RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/October 2015

October 2015
In Ukraine, Chewbacca was arrested for campaigning for Darth Vader on election day. While Vader did lose, the election for city council was instead won by Emperor Palpatine. As Israel/occupied territories again explode, the IDF is allegedly filmed placing knives by bodies of Palestinians it shoots in cold blood, as many Palestinian eye witnesses have said happens. Edited version shows blurry images of soldiers and settler around a body. AP: About 1,000 police officers lost their badges in a six-year period for rape, other sexual assault, and child porn. Rates worse than the Catholic Church. Barack Obama sends US special forces into Syria in order to fight ISIS. But John Kerry insists the US is not fighting the Syrian Civil War. Willis Carto has entered Malebolge. (And he may be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.) The RNC has suspended its partnership with NBC over claims of bad moderation at the most recent debate. National 4th and 8th grade Math and English Scores Stagnating. Ben Carson’s boardroom support for gay rights could test his base Guess who's on pace to set a new world record for most executions per capita? the UN and Amnesty are decidedly unhappy The EU parliament approves a resolution that calls on the member states to drop charges against Edward Snowden. China will change its one child policy to a two child policy. Female privilege run rampant! Sharks attack mostly men, not women, "because men are more likely to do stupid things". Fandom of popular progressive cartoon Steven Universe hits major drama when a fanartist on Tumblr was driven to attempting suicide due to cyberbullying over "problematic" aspects of her fan art. Response from the bullies: I hope you fucking die. Now you can get drunk with homeopathic laxatives! (Not The Onion) Hobby Lobby investigated for smuggling artifacts from Iraq This Is What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Sugar Americans, your government needs you: Any citizen spotting the Pentagon's lost $2.7 billion Raytheon surveillance blimp is supposed to call 911. Good community policing can and does happen. DC cop does Nae Nae dancing. Climate change could eventually render the Middle East uninhabitable for humans. The Senate has passed the (CISA), another flawed cyber-security bill with no amendments. The Library of Congress has expanded the limits and protections of Fair Use covering digital media. This includes jailbreaking devices, bypassing video game DRM for older titles and remixing content from DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. Oslo, the capital and largest city of Norway, wants to phase out cars in its downtown by 2019. The SxSW Interactive conference cancels two panels on online harassment... because of online harassment. Disturbing video that's gone viral shows South Carolina school cop body slam and drag a black female student. A more in depth article on SROs abusing kids in school. An audit shows that the IRS has Stingray cellphone surveillance gear. This technology creates fake cell towers in order to collect cell phone data. A total of 13 US federal agencies now own this kind of technology. "Democratic" prez Barack Obama is close to a deal with Congress that cuts in spending on Medicare and Social Security disability benefits. Cuz grannies and blind people are useless eaters. The Donald had to build his career and business with absolutely nothing but a "small loan of a million dollars". This should put all those false rumours of a privileged position to a rest. wins the Presidential elections in in a landslide against the center-left candidate. He ran for a center right party on a six page election manifesto, supports the death penalty, opposes abortion, has made statements of genocide denial against the Ixil people, and wants to annex neighbouring Belize. U.S. Military Used Christian NGO as Front for North Korea Espionage prez of org representing nearly 200 American NGOs horrified. Processed and red meat linked to cancer, says World Health Organization. (Link to WHO press release regarding the classifications here) Edit: A beefier explanation of the decision and misleading newspaper headlines. I'm sure you all know the drill by now. Far right sweeps the polls in Poland. Xenophobic, nationalist filled with ultraconservative Catholic fanatics takes absolute majority. Leader is an open admirer of Viktor Orbán. Left-wing parties win a grand total of zero seats. Why 5x3 does not equal 5+5+5, according to Common Core. Chris Christie who is famous for saying "sit down and shut up" and for killing gets thrown out of the quiet car of an Amtrak train for talking too loudly. The jokes write themselves Scientists found empirical evidence indicating the existence of organic molecules in the early days of our Solar System. Good news! Antioxidants really do aid cells' continual functioning and survival! Mostly cancer cells. (Original paper.) Tony Blair apologizes for Iraq War 'mistakes' and acknowledges the war played a role in the rise of Daesh. No word yet on if he'll use his personal investments to pay reparations to the Iraqi people or turn himself in anytime soon. Who knew? Reality clearly has a liberal bias. Climate change is bad for the economy, a study suggests. The very conservative Spanish province of Burgos finally gets round to renaming Fort Kill The Jews It would be nice if the whole country could also get round to removing the Falangist plaques from thousands of mid-20th century buildings. Oh, and change the name of their patron saint to something more modern than Santiago Arabkiller.

Bill Gothard’s ATI ministry, where the Duggars sent Josh for "rehabilitation," is being sued for sexual abuse of minors. A church in Washington, D.C. claims a proposed bike lane on their street violates their religious liberties and is promptly told off for how ridiculous that sounds. Jeb Bush orders across-the-board pay cuts for struggling campaign "The strongest hurricane on record" is about to strike Mexico. Some twenty-seven states legally challenge Obama's latest environmental protection policy because what is good for the environment is bad for the economy. Remember that terrible human being, posing as a camerawoman, who was filmed tripping and kicking refugees? Now she's planning to sue one of those refugees and Facebook; the latter for helping to "embitter people against me." Carson: I’m in great danger because I challenge the secular progressive movement Lincoln Chafee drops out of the Democratic race. America. College campus. Fill in the blanks. we should be so lucky as someone to be firing blanks for once John Brennan's emails have been hacked. There aren't a lot of details leaked, but you can read about the details of how it happened. Sword-wielding masked man kills a student and a teacher in a school attack in Sweden Robert Mugabe awarded 'China's Nobel peace prize' (not The Onion) The strange case of Anna Stubblefield: A perfect example of how horrific the pseudoscience of Facilitated communication can turn out. Biden will not be running for president, citing that there just isn't enough time to do so. In Ireland separation of church and state doesn't exist. Unbaptized kids can't get into the schools, 90% of which are Roman Catholic, and paid for by the government. Benjamin Netanyahu believes Hitler didn't want to exterminate Jews. The mooslims talked him into it! An armed society is a polite society! Exceptions may apply. But really, can any of us say we've never wanted to shoot a 4-year-old? UPDATE: The alleged shooter has been arrested and charged over the child's death, and reportedly has had a history of violent offenses. Woman documents ten years' worth of harassment that she was obviously asking for, openly being a woman on the internets and all. Jim Webb is out of the primary. He is currently considering an independent run. God-bothering cops in Astor, Florida. Washington Post: For men in prison, child support becomes a crushing debt Research shows that when presented with hard evidence of gender bias in STEM fields, men reacted by downplaying or criticizing the results of the research. An old and profound philosophical question, "what's the price of a human life", has finally been answered in Detroit by a concealed-cary licensee: about $1,000 worth in stolen goods A federal judge will allow Texas to deny citizenship to children born in the US from immigrant parents by refusing to acknowledge Mexican identification. Irwin Schiff, R.I.P.: Tax evader dies while being treated in prison on the government dime. Canada's embarrassment ends: Justin Trudeau and the Liberals smashed Harper and the Conservatives. A prime minister who does his own stunts. NYT: For Offenders Who Can’t Pay, It’s a Pint of Blood or Jail Time Update on. She won the Sunday elections with an absolute majority in the first round against the second placed social democrat. Turnout was abysmal (40.28%), however the third placed candidate who ran for joke-party outpolled the candidate of the Alternative für Deutschland. Take that, wingnuts. We guess... BBC: "UN attempt to decriminalise drugs foiled" A drunken Indiana University student allegedly slammed a Muslim woman's head onto a cafe table, tried to rip off her head scarf, and shouted racist threats, “white power,” and “kill them all.” Who defines what Antisemitism is? According to this German court case it only ever is Antisemitism if it positively refers to the 1933-1945 era. German media are outraged. The trial will go into its next round. When you dress your child as a witch for Halloween and hand her a broom you're telling her it's ok to stuff LSD in her vagina. Right-wing terrorism in Germany has its latest victim. Conservative/Green/Liberal Independent Cologne mayoral candidate was attacked by a knife-wielding 44 year old male. According to German news outlets, a right-wing and/or xenophobic motive is likely. Let's hope she survives. Islamophobic woman protests at Ohio mosque, Muslims engage her, friendliness breaks out. Video goes viral. Mike Huckabee concurs that the U.S. criminal justice system should follow the Bible and sell prisoners into slavery. In weirder news: A Kansas man attempted to put out a fire by driving a van full of ammunition over it because Murrica. US deficit at its lowest since 2007. Obviously, Obama's criminal fingerprints are all over this and we have to hold him accountable. And the next picketing target of the Westboro Baptist Church is... Kim Davis? The Pharmacy Council of New Zealand proposes changes to their code of ethics that eliminate the need for credible evidence for products promoted or supplied in a pharmacy. Faux News's recurring "CIA terrorism specialist," Wayne Simmons, arrested for impersonating a CIA agent. Can we finally stop crediting Obama with "ending two wars"? Ben Carson suspends campaign until next debate to sell books. Jeb Bush agrees that "the term Redskins isn’t the pejorative; it’s Washington that’s the pejorative.". He suggests to change it to "Northern Virginia Redskins or something like that." Breaking news from the New York Times: the United States has symptoms of becoming an oligarchy. The Drone Papers. An anonymous whistleblower has leaked a trove of top secret documents about the U.S. assassination program to journalist Jeremy Scahill and other reporters at The Intercept. That woman who sued her nephew because he broke her wrists? She did it because otherwise she couldn't collect her insurance money to pay her medical bills. Japan restarts its second nuclear reactor since the Fukushima disaster in 2011 shut down the country's nuclear energy program. Popular opinion is opposed despite Shinzo Abe's promises of tough nuclear power safety measures. Toddlers are shooting people in record numbers in the USA this year. The Most Mysterious Star in Our Galaxy. In a church counseling session two teenaged brothers are severely beaten over the course of several hours in an attempt to drive out their sins. One has died and the other is in serious condition. Turkey struck by deadliest terrorist attack in national history when two car bombs exploded at a peace rally in downtown Ankara, killing over 95 and wounding hundreds, further deepening political divides. For those occasions when a tinfoil hat is not enough: silver-filled Faraday cage underpants. A 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. Palestinian terrorists murder 3 Israelis injure more than 20. When will this senseless violence against innocent civilians end? A goat does funny things before being caught by police read all about it (link in German) Amidst increased tensions between Israeli settlers and Palestinians, shocking footage has emerged from the settlement of Pisgat Zeev of a 13 year old Palestinian boy bleeding to death on the streets and begging for help after being shot by police. Reports suggest one nearby soldier forced the boy back on the ground when he tried to get up, as settler bystanders shouted "die you son of a bitch" and told the soldiers to "shoot him in the head". Israeli officials allege that the boy was carrying a knife. Paul Ryan for House Speaker? No way are we supporting that darned liberal! All your favorite far-right characters chime in: Phyllis Schlafly, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Drudge Report, Breitbart.com, RedState, you name it! Planned Parenthood will no longer accept compensation for fetal tissue. Anti-abortionists declare it "admission of guilt." Playboy magazine will no longer publish nude photos. Apparently more people are interested in the articles. Anti-GM activists do the very thing of which they accuse Monsanto: FOIA request shows that Charles Benbrook, a high profile anti-GMO expert, was willing to coordinate the creation of a scientific paper with a pre-determined outcome indicating harm from GM crops to bolster a court case by a Washington farmer seeking a moratorium on GM crop use. For this, he wanted 'six figures', plus $200/hour for serving as an expert witness in the case. Japan threatens to halt Unesco funding over Nanjing massacre listing. A Texas police officer chokes a 14 year old. Meanwhile, two experts determine that the  shooting was justified. "Randomly-generated" levels in a video game used to demonstrate the placebo effect in action. Fedora-wearing bank robbery suspect claims law invalid, will represent himself. (That headline can't be improved.) Another day, another deadly campus shooting in the US. Update: Yet another school shooting occurs in Houston. Russia fires missiles at Syria, hits Iran. Moscow and senior Iranian officials dispute claims that the missiles fell on Iranian soil. The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight continues to fall apart. Not a Poe: $600,000 USD settlement with Florida school district because principal hypnotised students to death. Moonbeam is on a roll. The Governor of California signs a bill requiring half of all electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030. That's just fifteen years from now. The price of intolerance and backing a losing cause? Two million dollars of Michigan taxpayers' money. Tennessee Will Not Seek God's Mercy Over Gay Marriage as Vote Dropped on Proposed Resolution This time for sure! Fringe Christian group predicts end of the world on October 7th, 2015. (Short notice there, guys.) As of October 8th, the world appears quite continuous. The lawsuits filed against Dr. Steven Novella by Dr. Edward Tobinick over an article on Tobinick's shady practices have been either dismissed or found in Dr. Novella's favor. Congrats, guys! California becomes the fifth state to legalize assisted suicide. The Trans-Pacific Partnership has been signed. British conservative think tank the Taxpayers' Alliance tells the Tories to cut pension benefits for the elderly a.s.a.p. because a lot of the people it affects will probably be dead by next election year or else will forget which government did this. A report finds Madison cops arrest up to 30% of black kids a year. Water quality going down the crapper? We can fix that, says Wyoming, by making it illegal to measure water quality. The US has bombed an Afghan hospital killing 19 people. In 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. The Nepalese government moves to enact new restrictions on who can climb Mt. Everest over concerns about lives of climbers and the sherpas that guide them. Stanford study finds white people respond to evidence that they are racially privileged by insisting that they face greater hardships in life. Alabama has closed 8 of the 10 DMVs (needed to obtain a driver's license to vote) in the black belt. Rachel Maddow has more on this Sepp Blatter is done. Florida Man appears to have taken over the Florida Libertarian Party. Meet US Senate candidate Augustus Sol Invictus: eugenicist, goat dismemberer. (Invictus' resignation letter from his old job would be a fine candidate for that other page.) The Pope did not in fact state his support for Kim Davis, and the Vatican is making a point of saying so. Introducing Peeple, the handy "Yelp for people" guaranteed to improve your cyberbullying experience! It appears to be completely made-up press-release vaporware to promote the founders' personal brands ... well, it's sure done that. Yet another school shooting in the US of A.