RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/July 2012

July 2012
Michael Phelps, the Olympic athlete who shocked fans and sponsors after GASP! he was filmed at a party smoking marijuana, wins his 19th Olympic medal, which is an all-time record. The media is treating the female Olympians with the utmost respect and admiration. (Bets are off for a spectator/reporter to get kicked in the 'nads by the end of the week). Former hockey player edit: you don't need to kick... Remember Mitt Romney's recent gaffe in London? How it was an "isolated incident"? God dammit, Romney. The right to bear arms... could include handheld rocket launchers. Scientists discover the most relaxing tune ev...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  Mississippi reminds black people that Jeebus only loves Christians when they're white. I'm too dumbfounded to even come up with any snark for this - A climate denial group change their opinion after (gasp) reviewing evidence. Stop me if you've heard this one before: an(other) anti-gay evangelist turns out to be gay.

Climate change deniers more likely to also believe that the moon landing were faked and that 9/11 was an inside job. One day people will take Beach Volleyball seriously. In the meantime, let's mark breaks in play with the Benny Hill theme. Florida does it again: a man shoots and kills an unarmed door-to-door salesman In a bizarre coincidence the Public Relations VP for Chick-Fil-A dies in the midst of a public relations nightmare. Update: As if they needed even more problems, it's lawsuit time! Contender for the most nerdgasmic headline ever: Brian Cox receives degree from Sir Patrick Stewart Romney has already begun a diplomatic incident and he's not even President. David Cameron: "We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere." Update: [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19006480 Holy fuck. Boris Johnson.]

Some hate-filled nutters are predicting the end of the anti-Christ Obama this weekend. Pregnant teen with cancer denied chemotherapy because of abortion laws. <vote poll=world5549 closed="yes">Demand for Canadian oil plummets: maybe we shouldn't have put so many economic eggs in one basket. <vote poll=world5548 closed="yes">Rwandan gorillas outsmart poachers. <vote poll=world5547 closed="yes">Greek triple-jumper in for the high jump. <vote poll=world5546 closed="yes">The church that split from the Catholic Church, in order to redefine marriage, is against redefining marriage. <vote poll=world5545 closed="yes">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18978483 No, it's not us! It's socialist NASA obfuscating the facts! Get your hands off my oil!] <vote poll=world5544 closed="yes">Obamacare confirmed: Repealing it would be counterintuitive. The only problem - the expansion of Medicare that was struck down in the SCOTUS ruling will keep 3 million uninsured. <vote poll=world5543 closed="yes"> Jesusland Americans: [http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/07/23/gun-control-polls.html Guns? What guns?] <vote poll=world5542 closed="yes">Would you like bigots with that, Mike Huckabee? <vote poll=world5541 closed="yes">John McCain faces recall over his support for Huma Abedin. <vote poll=world5540 closed="yes">The greatest post-mortem trolling of all time: As Caribou Barbie, Mitt Romney, John Boehner and other conservatives offer their praises to the life of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space is revealed to have been a lesbian. <vote poll=world5539 closed="yes">Corning goes to Washington to complain that their corporate tax rate is too high and is harming the company. Corning's actual tax rate for 2011? -0.2%. Minus. As in, they got a refund. <vote poll=world5538 closed="yes">Wholesome family values at work: Three-year-old Tripp Palin calls Bristol a "faggot" for not taking him to the swimming pool. On camera. <vote poll=world5537 closed="yes">Advice: If you want to take the afternoon off, do not set fire to your workplace. <vote poll=world5536 closed="yes">Isn't it great that the war in Iraq is over? <vote poll=world5535 closed="yes">Penn State takes down JoePa statue. Update: NCAA to Penn State: We'll teach you to shelter a pedophile and hail him as a hero. Penn State fined $60M, banned from bowl games for four years, all wins since 1998 vacated. How about that football pride now?

<vote poll=world5533 closed="yes">How to cure cancer in women: esoteric breast massage. On the government's tab, of course. (Includes bonus ovary-whispering!) <vote poll=world5532 closed="yes">Just remember UN that effort is directly proportional to results. <vote poll=world5531 closed="yes">Fucking Gohmert had to go there. <vote poll=world5530 closed="yes">First working gene therapy nears European approval for treatment of lipoprotein lipase deficiency. I think we all know the ultimate goal of this technology&mdash;putting the delivery virus in the venom of a spider and surreptitiously setting it on the back of Andrew Garfield's neck... <vote poll=world5527 closed="yes">12 dead, 59 injured, as gunman goes on rampage during screening of new Batman movie in Colorado. Update: Now considered the largest mass shooting in American history. All firearms purchased legally. <vote poll=world5529 closed="yes">Microsoft finds and fixes its boob problem (Hey! No sniggering at the back!) <vote poll=world5528 closed="yes">US eases regulations for same-sex partners of Federal employees. <vote poll=world5526 closed="yes">Trayvon Martin killing - Hate crime? Racially motivated killing? White Suburban Paranoia? Naw, it was GOD'S PLAN! <vote poll=world5525 closed="yes">Michigan's GOP are involved in a (surprise, surprise) scandal involving election fraud. <vote poll=world5524 closed="yes">Is that a bomb in your shorts, or are you just happy to see me? <vote poll=world5523 closed="yes">Everyone point and laugh: Apple ordered to take out adverts saying Samsung have not actually copied them. <vote poll=world5522 closed="yes">Victory for religious freedom in middle Tennessee. <vote poll=world5521 closed="yes">Opposition forces in Syria bomb Damascus, killing the Syrian Defence Minister, Interior Minister, and killing/wounding several other officials.

<vote poll=world5519 closed="yes"> Once more, Michigan bans women from talking about issues relating to women [http://eclectablog.com/2012/07/michigan-rep-barb-byrum-banned-from-speaking-on-house-floor-again.html Shut up you WOMAN!!! Go home and have a period or something] <vote poll=world5518 closed="yes">The first exoplanet smaller than Earth, and it's only 33 light years away. Yes, there's no atmosphere and likely a volcanic surface with temperatures of over 1,000oF... but it's better than London during the Olympics <vote poll=world5517 closed="yes">Mitt Romney fully discloses 12 2 0 years' tax returns <vote poll=world5516 closed="yes">The Hubble Telescope finds the earliest spiral galaxy yet - just 5998 10.7 billion years old <vote poll=world5515 closed="yes">Is there anything Lego can't do? Build a model jet engine? Check. Explain particle physics? Check. <vote poll=world5514 closed="yes">Yawn. It's not like there are any rapists in the area so it's fine, right? <vote poll=world5513 closed="yes">Tireless efforts by a conservative blogger uncover another frightening Democratic scandal: a woman hugging her husband. <vote poll=world5512 closed="yes">Which societal values are more beneficial for one's bank account? God-fearin' free market American exceptionalism? Or the "hard-headed socialism" of Canuckistan that kept their real estate values from tanking in 2008? <vote poll=world5511 closed="yes">...and El Rushbo has achieved full insanity. Update: Oh dear God, Rush is right! <vote poll=world5510 closed="yes">McCain on Romney: oooh, burn. Update: McCain backpedals somewhat after critics try and put two and two together on Romney's tax returns. 4:1 odds against this being prompted by a call from Romney's campaign. <vote poll=world5509 closed="yes">It appears Libya has proven the world wrong - the (moderately) liberal National Forces Alliance has beaten Islamist parties in the first election since Gaddafi's death. This guy will likely become Prime Minister. <vote poll=world5508 closed="yes">Ah, the Olympics. Where thoughtful debates on cheap capitalism can finally begin. With style!

<vote poll=world5507 closed="yes">Dyb dyb dyb! Homos can fuck off <vote poll=world5506 closed="yes">One step closer to a cure for HIV <vote poll=world5505 closed="yes">The head G4S (that one wot fucked up the Olympics) predicts massive police privatisation in the future. But don't worry, core police services won't be privatised; only running prisons, taking custody of offenders, taking emergency calls, staffing control rooms, responding to incidents, investigating crimes... <vote poll=world5504 closed="yes">Cut-price solution to global warming? <vote poll=world5503 closed="yes">Only one in three Americans can name all three branches of government; another one in three can't name any of them. <vote poll=world5502 closed="yes">Which is worse: a Gideon Bible in every hotel room, or ... Fifty Shades of Grey? Which is worse to have? Up: Bible, Down: 50 Shades <vote poll=world5501 closed="yes">"When all else fails, vote from the rooftops" - stay classy, gun-crazy America. <vote poll=world5500 closed="yes">Mitt Romney: I'm not releasing my tax returns, because John Kerry's wife didn't.Where's the birth certificate tax return, Romney? <vote poll=world5499 closed="yes">11% of Americans still are really fucking stupid believe Obama is a Muslim. <vote poll=world5498 closed="yes">When your beloved father places flowers on Pétain's gravetranslation by google you can't really be indignant for comparisons to Nazis.translation by google

<vote poll=world5496 closed="yes">Iowa state GOP candidate goes full Freeman, becomes "a U.S. senator of an alternative form of government." <vote poll=world5495 closed="yes">Mitt Romney's campaign strategy: Ignore journalists, pander to insane right-wing conspiracy sites like the Drudge Report. <vote poll=world5494 closed="yes">[http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/07/20127147196482238.html 50. Fucking. Years.] <vote poll=world5493 closed="yes">"We kept our 15-year-old daughter in a chicken coop and shock collar, because we're doing what the Bible says." (Faux News manages to leave mention of the Bible bit out of their story.) <vote poll=world5491 closed="yes">The private company in charge of security for the London Olympics can't find enough staff to do the job (despite unemployment at over two million). The solution? Send in the troops!

<vote poll=world5490 closed="yes">First came advertising on billboards and the sides of transit buses. Now a minor league baseball team has agreed to allow Minnesota Atheists to sponsor a promotion night. So, if you're in the Twin Cities on August 10, you may want to attend "A Night of Unbelievable Fun." <vote poll=world5489 closed="yes">Dispatches from Harperland: [http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/07/13/pol-cp-csis-online-surveillance-fadden.html The Online Snooping bill is back! And apparently now it's perfectly okay for domestic intelligence organizations to take sides in federal politics!] Well...good thing CSIS still has civilian oversight. Oh, wait. <vote poll=world5488 closed="yes">A village in India bans love. <vote poll=world5487 closed="yes">Apparently, a healthcare bill providing care to millions who didn't previously have it is roughly the same as the deaths of six million Jews. <vote poll=world5486 closed="yes">Even though the US seems to be the most religious industrialized country in the west, a new Gallup poll shows that Americans' confidence in organized religion is at its lowest. <vote poll=world5485 closed="yes">The bastard responsible for turning the Canadian Progressive Conservatives into its twisted, Republican-aspiring form found to be bribing a university for $15 million. <vote poll=world5484 closed="yes">Oval dinosaur eggs could be a further link between dinosaurs and birds. (Original paper.) <vote poll=world5483 closed="yes">The eye movement stuff in neurolinguistic programming turns out to be bollocks. Gosh, etc.

<vote poll=world5482 closed="yes">The UK's Court of Appeal upholds a ruling that the Catholic Church can be held liable for the wrongdoings of its priests. <vote poll=world5481 closed="yes">Warning: Graphic imagery. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints apparently half-buries a live cat in concrete to send a message to a former member. <vote poll=world5480 closed="yes">An Arizona pastor is jailed for holding "bible study" for 150 people in a 2,000 square foot "game room" he built in his back yard after being denied a permit to build a church on his residential property and failing an inspection. What does Fox News frame it as? An attack on religious freedom. <vote poll=world5479 closed="yes">Canadian scientists finally fight back in Stephen Harper's war against evidence-based reasoning. <vote poll=world5478 closed="yes">Any sign of Islamic nutters wanting a "world caliphate" slipping away. <vote poll=world5477 closed="yes">"Yes, we spammed the comments section on your site but now we've just found out that Google's new algorithm doesn't like us doing that sort of crap. So here's a legal notice ordering you to remove our spam from your site." <vote poll=world5476 closed="yes">The tallest building in Europe is opened in London. But bankers and brewers will not be allowed to have offices in it, for religious reasons.

<vote poll=world5474 closed="yes">Calling all RationalWikians living in Alabama: Can you please spread the word that it isn't the 1950s anymore? <vote poll=world5473 closed="yes">In true liberal biased fashion, CNN hires Jack Abramoff. <vote poll=world5472 closed="yes">Ok, we need a full rewrite of Halomonadaceae, scientists are calling it increasingly dubious. <vote poll=world5471 closed="yes">First world problems getting you down? Don't worry! The Ghana Think Tank is helping people in third-world countries work on solving them for you. <vote poll=world5470 closed="yes">Climate change? So far this year 23,283 daily high temperature records have been set across the US. Up 71% from last year. <vote poll=world5469 closed="yes">Abraham Lincoln's Ghost: "You wanna go, you piece of redneck shit?" <vote poll=world5468 closed="yes">To any homophobe that uses Google...*ahem* (We look forward to the expected boycott of Google. That's Search, YouTube, Gmail, Android, AdSense, Maps, Chrome, Picasa, Drive and the Office tools... no, nobody uses Plus.) Today, after 60 years of oppression, Libya is holding the first free election. Well, nobody ever said anything about it not being chaotic as hell... <vote poll=world5466 closed="yes">Huntsman smash! "I will not be attending this year's convention, nor any Republican convention in the future, until the party focuses on a bigger, bolder, more confident future for the United States—a future based on problem solving, inclusiveness, and a willingness to address the trust deficit, which is every bit as corrosive as our fiscal and economic deficits." <vote poll=world5465 closed="yes">Prepare for Holocaust denial. <vote poll=world5464 closed="yes">A Louisiana Republican lawmaker is shocked to discover that other,  non-Christian religions will be allowed to set up schools under the state's new  voucher system. <vote poll=world5463 closed="yes">Rush Limbaugh waxes nostalgic about those pre-19th Amendment golden days. <vote poll=world5462 closed="yes">From HuffPo, two Republicans vie for oddest claim of the week: #1) An Upstate New York congressional candidate states that "People now don't die from prostate cancer, breast cancer and some of the other things" because of innovations that he claims didn't exist 10 years ago (although some of them have actually existed since the 1990s); #2) An 86-year-old New Hampshire state legislator claims that sending children to kindergarten has caused a 400 percent increase in crime. <vote poll=world5461 closed="yes">Vitamin therapy ends in tragedy. <vote poll=world5460 closed="yes">German politics are getting quite interesting. <vote poll=world5459 closed="yes">Where is he now? Thirteen year old Conservative wunderkind is now seventeen...and not a Conservative anymore. <vote poll=world5458 closed="yes">So you lost both your legs in combat? According to Joe Walsh, "You ain't a true hero if you talk about it."

<vote poll=world5457 closed="yes">The European Parliament rejects ACTA with 478-39 votes. <vote poll=world5456 closed="yes">Charles Carreon vs the World is now over with Carreon claiming victory. Of course, it's attracted another crazy. <vote poll=world5455 closed="yes">They've (probably) found the Higgs. <vote poll=world5454 closed="yes">An 18 year old is sentenced to over a 160 years in prison for armed robbery. This after a woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a gun into the air to ward off her abusive husband, and after the brouhaha over even getting George Zimmerman on trial, makes you think that Florida has a really fucked up justice system <vote poll=world5453 closed="yes">In a blatant attempt at a coverup, the US Government claims mermaids don't exist. (Animal Planet viewers seem not to have learned from three years ago) <vote poll=world5452 closed="yes">Is it a bird? Is it Archaeopteryx? No, it's a feathered dinosaur! <vote poll=world5451 closed="yes">Roger Hayes ([[British Constitution Group]) arrested, tried, imprisoned by secret court?] No, just a man jailed for refusing to pay council tax. <vote poll=world5450 closed="yes">Birthers lose another court case. <vote poll=world5449 closed="yes">Anderson Cooper comes out.

<vote poll=world5446 closed="yes">The Tevatron's final verdict on the Higgs Boson? We think so... but can't be sure. <vote poll=world5445 closed="yes">Cure for Nazism found. <vote poll=world5444 closed="yes">There's only one way this will go...Come on Charles, sue Paypal! <vote poll=world5443 closed="yes">As the government of Mississippi moves to end the state's only clinic where people can access abortion procedures, a federal judge blocks the law temporarily, quoting something silly about legal precedent and constitutional rights. <vote poll=world5442 closed="yes">Yet another stopped clock...Rupert Fucking Murdoch.