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

October 2014
We have until the turn of the century. In the wake of Mark Driscoll's resignation, Mars Hill Church disbands. Space news: An unmanned Antares rocket, operated by Orbital Sciences for NASA, explodes over Virginia. A Virgin Galactic space-tourism test rocket crashes in the Mojave, killing one pilot and injuring the other. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/31/new-moon-crater_n_6080270.html And, NASA crashes a spacecraft into the moon... for fun!] Just when you thought pastors and preachers had run out of ways to disappont their flock... Gamergate makes it to Australian federal Parliament. That'll increase the ethics in gaming journalism! Muslim Christian fundamentalist beheads a guy in the Islamic State Tulsa. Iraq has a chance. Netanyahu: Chickenshit just got real. Sarah Palin says that the haters make her want to get into politics again. Democrat and Tea Party supporters rejoice everywhere. And in less positive statements, former president Jimmy Carter (The one who builds all the houses) announces States should decide Gay Marriage legality, not the Federal Government. Pope Francis declares reiterates the Vatican position that theistic evolution and Big Bang theory are right Michigan State University, home of Richard Lenski, to host a major creationism conference. Crazification factor: Now known to be up to 34% of any electorate. (Anyways, you can now go ahead and ignore Toronto politics.) WND contributor, film-maker and rightwing nutcase Molotov Mitchell is running for state Senate in North Carolina. Plants know when you're chewing on them. Jack Bruce, former bassist. Two dead, four wounded in yet another school shooting in the U.S. A study that followed 1,037 individuals from birth to age 38 shows that adolescent onset cannabis use is associated with cognitive decline across a broad range of functioning. Full text of the study available here. Oklahoma Capitol's Ten Commandments monument suffered a temporary lack of God was destroyed by a car. Nebraskan school yearbooks are about to get ...interesting. Paul Elam appears to consider mere trademark law optional. Their victims are less than pleased and "are exploring all of our options." Serena Shim, a journalist working for Iranian Press TV, has died when her car collided with a truck near Turkey's border to Syria. The day before her death, she said she had been threatened and accused of spying by Turkish intelligence. “Shim had said she was among the few journalists who had obtained stories about Takfiri militants’ infiltration into Syria through the Turkish border, adding she had gained access to images showing militants crossing the border in trucks belonging to the World Food Organization and other NGOs.” Ottawa, Canada: scene of a Unknown Soldier guard shooting and a gunman in the Parliament Building (Thank this man, because it could have been a hell of a lot worse.) A Puerto Rico Federal Judge upholds the ban on same sex marriage in the territory, citing a 1971 Supreme Court Case and the "Polygamy and Incest next!" argument. Consider a betting pool on when the 1st circuit appeals court shreds the ruling. Yay! An unregulated currency! What could possibly go wrong? Diversity in America is increasing, and that's a good thing. How long will it take for somebody to disagree? Meanwhile, in Europe: Polish holocaust denier and MEP Robert Iwaszkiewicz petitions to join Nigel Farage's EFDD voting block to secure additional EU funding.

Australian spy agency ASIO discovers it was spying on, er, itself. Satanic Panic: how British agents stoked supernatural fears in The Troubles Meanwhile in Australia The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) head wants to help dowsers! Gay couple kicked off London bus for kissing. Why he'd spend his time looking at gays rather than driving is anyone's guess. [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29680960 "One of our submarines was last reported near the Stockholm archipelago. We have not heard from her for some time." "Vladimir…You've lost another submarine?"] A company called "Giant Microbes" has been selling plush versions of various micro-organisms for years. Now that Ebola's about to affect white folk, CNBC accuses them of "the least tasteful advertising campaign in the history of marketing." Because they happen to be sold out of cuddly Ebola viruses. 'Merikans continue to lose their shit over Ebola: Maine teacher put on leave, because she visited Dallas. "Even if we say there is not one child who has been cured of acute lymphoblastic leukemia by [Six Nations/Iroquois] traditional methods, is that a reason to invoke child protection?" Judge says forcing a Native Canadian girl with leukemia to pursue modern chemotherapy over traditional First Nations medicine is to "impose our world view on First Nation culture." Arizona becomes the 31st State to legalize gay marriage. Sunday school teacher "cures" gay teen by sexually abusing him. We may be entering a formal new age, defined solely by our impact on the world. The trials of female to male transgender people at Wellesley, one of the Seven Sisters colleges. FBI is arguing that encryption is a bad idea while warning us of foreign attacks of cyber espionage. Iranian atheist faces deportation back to Iran where he could be killed for opposing Islam. Second health care worker in Dallas tests positive for Ebola after flying from Cleveland back to Dallas. Great Scott! Lockheed claims breakthrough in developing a nuclear fusion reactor. It says it would build and test a compact reactor in less than a year and a prototype in five years and produce an operational 100MW reactor in ten years which would be small enough to fit into the back of a truck. [http://www.dailydot.com/business/moolah-dogecoin-alex-green-shut-down/?fb=dd Such coin! Very Exchange! Much closed! Wow.] Lord Freud, British welfare reform minister, declares: "some disabled people ‘not worth’ minimum wage". British parliament votes symbolically to recognise Palestine. Israel, of course, has a tantrum. 1999: gamers demand we stop blaming school shootings on videogames. 2014: gaters threaten a school shooting because videogames. Sarkeesian canceled her speech because “state law prevented the university from keeping people with a legal concealed firearm permit from entering the event” even after the threat of a massacre. Less gun control means freedom! The US Supreme Court votes 6 - 3 to stay part of Texas' contentious abortion restrictions pending legal wrangling. The law would have resulted in all but 8 of the state's abortion providers to close and would have placed nearly 900,000 women more than 150 miles from the nearest provider. There were WMDs in Iraq. No, not those WMDs, but weapons dealt with by American troops that neither the neocons nor the Obama administration wanted to divulge to the public. Why? Well, it all starts with a visionary President, elected in 1980... After incidents surrounding Middlesborough and more recently Kris Cook, Psychic Sally Morgan came under fire when footage of a skeptic distributing flyers getting death threats and homophobic insults from Morgan's husband and son-in-law was released. Now, Morgan has announced that she has fired her husband and son-in-law over this and says she doesn't know what will happen to her marriage. Perhaps she could consult a psychic. Pope Francis supports a much greater level of acceptance of homosexuals. Or not &hellip; The Spectator criticises an unreadable doccument with mixed mesages and suggests angry disagreement within the Synod. Mixed messages may be intentional to keep both sides happy. There is no change of official policy but big change may (or may not) happen decades from now. Conservative Cardinal Raymond Burke recently demoted and other conservatives have stated the document is not Church teaching Denunciations by conservative Catholic leaders must mean that the Synod is doing something right! Conservatives watered down the final policy statement but confusingly the unwatered down statement will be published. A major schism is a remote possibility. Republicans have long hindered the Pentagon from taking the effects of climate change into account for their strategic evaluations. The Pentagon is now going to do it anyway. “‘There is a lot you can do to mitigate risk and lower the cost of risks if you acknowledge the risk exists,’ the officials said.” Alaska becomes the latest State to join the 21st century. Obligatory. Greg Abbott, Texas' soon-to-be-governor: Banning gay marriage would reduce out-of-wedlock births, because otherwise different-sex couples would be less interested in marrying and having children. You have a rat problem? Don't worry, we'll release owls into the area to clean them up. What could possibly go wro- oh, hello superstition... Paul Bremer, your career will be remembered fondly. Nurse who treated Ebola victim in Texas tests positive for the virus. A small city in Colombia institutes a curfew for males. Let's see if North Korea's propaganda of destroying "the south" in one blow holds up. (Also, as the speculation may last for a while, here's North Korea Misinformation Bingo.) Malala Yousafzai shares the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. UKIP is no longer on the outside looking in, as a Tory who defected to UKIP is re-elected to his seat. SCOTUS, 2013: Oh, s.5 of the Voting Rights Act is unnecessary. No conservative-led state is going to blatantly try discriminating against minorities in the polls anymore. SCOTUS, 2014: Oh shit. St. Louis police officer kills 18-year-old, reviving Ferguson tensions. Australia's anti-tobacco campaign scores a victory against Bizet's Carmen. Thomas Duncan, infected with Ebola in Dallas, Texas, died today. However, it is unknown if this is because the experimental drug ZMapp failed, because of its late administration, or otherwise. One thing is certain: Mr. Duncan's tragic passing is sure to help deal with rampant justified fear paranoia in the United States about further spread of Ebola. Nickelodeon cancels its upcoming Comic Com panel after the host outed himself as a racist dickbag. (Summary: If you want non-white lead characters, the entire production crew better also be non-white, otherwise you're predatory! Stop talking me in circles!) Out of all the science and technology in the world, lab grown penises is what people found to be of utmost urgency/importance.  SCOTUS Justice Kennedy blocks appeal court ruling allowing gay marriage in Idaho and Nevada. Voter fraud? What voter fraud?  Ted Cruz is upset about the Supreme Court's inaction (see below). So upset that he plans to introduce an Amendment to the Constitution to cancel out judicial review on the definition of marriage. "Is there a problem, officer?" "Yes, ma'am. You're a 60-year-old woman  who still hasn't accepted Jesus as your personal savior.  Welcome to Indiana. Meanwhile, in Michigan, some cops still have a heart.  The U. S. Supreme Court denies review in all gay marriage related appeals currently pending.  The decisions striking down the bans now take effect.  Mississippi, you never cease to amaze  Bitcoin: TO THE MOON!! (Dipped below US$300/BTC earlier today, getting to more than the cost of the electricity to mine. The sound you hear is panicking Ponzi bagholders... or Jupiter-size special pleading.) Pluto may yet be a planet again.

GodTV just became the latest pot of "moral failure". Oops? Ok, there's something to the Kim rumour mill: North Korea's second-in-command is heading to Incheon for reasons unknown. (First time since 2002.) Update: It gets stranger. With Scottish independence's rejection dashing many nationalist and Secessionist hopes of precedence, Catalonia leaders have announced plans for their own try at independence in two months. The Spanish government is having none of it. Nude celebs, MRAs... what else could one find on Reddit? Oh yes, corrective rape. Dead baby was not protected from whooping cough by vaccine Another notch on Andrew Wakefield's tally.

Another memorable SCOTUS case coming up: Will Scalia back the God-given rights of Abercrombie & Fitch? Strange Rumblings in Hong Kong. For once, "stand your ground" doesn't help a killer escape justice in Florida. The Fake Terror Threat Used to Justify Bombing Syria Update: Oh yes, a "fake" terror threat.