RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/August 2017

August 2017
Burmese leader and Nobel prize winner Suu Kyi has turned into an apologist for genocide against Rohingya Muslims. When you're rejecting UN investigations you know there's something wrong. Florence, a nearly 3-mile-wide asteroid, to swing by Earth on Friday 'We only kill black people’: Georgia cop caught reassuring nervous white woman during traffic stop. Israel’s Supreme Court rules same-sex marriage is not a right [https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/man-who-pretended-he-was-attacked-for-looking-like-a-neonazi-actually-stabbed-himself-a3622296.html Just stabbed yourself? Blame a black guy], because... um.... politics? Why would anyone create a hoax like this? The Republican challenging Luther Strange in next month's GOP Senate primary runoff in Alabama? Why, none other than Roy Moore. And he might win. Trump blocks Obama-era rule designed to prevent pay discrimination. "Nowhere is political journalism so free, so robust, or perhaps so rowdy as in the United States." So says a federal judge in dismissing Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times. Major Ku Klux Klan and Nazi Website Stormfront Has Been Kicked Offline [http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sf-rally-20170826-story.html Three-for-three. Alt-righters announce a rally and subsequent press conference in San Francisco. The threat of a backlash grows so strong that they cancel the event altogether. Thousands show up to counter-protest them anyway]. We can keep doing this forever, alt-right. Transgender troop ban is now official. Sebastian Gorka, who has links to neo-Nazis, leaves White House post. As promised, Trump has pardoned Mr. Pink PJ's, effectively violating the Bill of Rights. South Carolina governor Henry McMaster signs order "directing state agencies to stop providing funds to any medical practice affiliated with an abortion clinic." Following the recent terror incidents in London and Manchester, moderate Islamic group Minhaj-ul-Quran UK hopes to do more to counter the effect DAESH propaganda on British teenagers with their annual "al-hidayah" summer camp. Terrorist incident in Brussels as a Somalian man assaults a soldier with a knife before being shot dead. 23 people have died and 2500 arrested after a series of riots in northern India following the conviction of religious leader Ram Rahim Singh for rape. Another neo-Nazi rally in San Francisco on Saturday. Local residents have made preparations to welcome them; the neo-Nazis will be up to their jackboots in dog poop A new study investigating publicly available documents from Exxon Mobil and the research on climate science they sponsored suggests the corporation has been deliberately misleading the public about climate change. This comes at a time when the corporation is facing various lawsuits for its position on the issue. Triple talaq: India court bans Islamic instant divorce Democrats in Congress are trying to form a panel of psychiatrists and psychologists to assess Donald Trump's mental health. A solar eclipse passed along the continental US August 21st. Trump's response to the Navy warship collision that left 10 sailors missing: "that's too bad". Imagine the Republican reaction if Obama or Clinton said this. [http://bc.ctvnews.ca/thousands-join-anti-racist-demonstration-at-vancouver-city-hall-1.3553090 Two-for-two. Neo-Nazis host an anti-Muslim protest in Vancouver. 28 people turn up. 4,000 people turn up to counter-protest them.] Man, everyone sure agrees with you, don't they, alt-right? It'd sure be you who would win in a hypothetical second Civil War, wouldn't it? Information is power: savvy customers taking advantage of genetic testing worry life and health insurers. The anti-vaccine movement may have a new target -- veterinary medicine. So, can dogs and cats even get autism? Vets say "no!" Anti-vaxxers are beginning to say "you don't know, so let's risk rabies!" [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-20/thousands-march-in-boston-protest-against-hate-speech/8824188 Neo-Nazis host a "free speech" rally in Boston. Roughly a few dozen people turn up. Between 15,000 and 40,000 people turn up to counter-protest them]. Some good news for a change, Steve Bannon has left the White House. Update: "Bannon the Barbarian" is back at Breitbart waging war against the President's opponents. Multiple stabbings left one person dead in Turku, Finland. As of now, there's no indication of the assailant's motive. [https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/08/18/inenglish/1503039256_776386.html Five terrorists related to the attack in Barcelona killed by the Spanish police. One woman, stabbed by one of them, has died] PayPal shuts down access for Richard Spencer and other right wing extremists after finding out their service was used to raise funding for Charlottesville rally. Apple makes a similar move as well. A rented van has driven into crowds in Barcelona's central street, La Rambla, killing as many as thirteen and leaving fifty more injured. One suspect has been arrested by the police, other has been killed in a gunfight, and another thought to be related to the terrorist attack died in a house explosion Donald Trump unabashedly mourns the removal of Confederate statues from public space. Unsurprisingly, he finds himself increasingly isolated. Russia is erecting statues for dictator Stalin. Racist teens vandalize Asian American cemetery, spray paint racist slurs and topple 40+ headstones. Four Confederate monuments were removed in Baltimore, Maryland. A recent study by Europe's Joint Research Centre suggests that super heatwaves, similar to the one currently scorching the continent called "Lucifer", will likely become increasingly frequent in the future if nothing is done to curtail global warming. In related news, US climate scientists deliberately leaked a report, which shows that global average temperatures and sea levels will continue to rise, to prevent its suppression by Donald Trump. North Korea holds off its plan to launch a nuclear strike against the US territory of Guam. Lebanon abolishes a law allowing rapists to marry their victims in order to escape punishment. Following seven CEO departures in the wake of the Charlottesville rally, the White House has been forced to close both the Strategic and Policy Forum and the White House Manufacturing Jobs Initiative councils. UPDATE: the new National Infrastructure Advisory Council has gone, too. The Rebel Media in steady decline, says Maclean's, as co-founder Brian Lilley quits the site in disgust after Charlottesville. Two part-time contributors, Barbara Kay and John Robson, followed him out the door. Donald Trump's approval ratings continue to drop. Even some of those who voted for him are now having doubts. Somehow, mom of Charlottesville victim thanked Trump for "comfort". In an attempt to increase its presence in America the Daily Mail is starting on September 18th, a syndicated TV "news" show, Daily Mail TV. FBI just foiled a bombing plot by a white supremacist terrorist in Oklahoma City. In the wake of the Charlottesville riot, protesters in Durham, North Carolina, where a state law prohibits local authorities from removing Confederate monuments, decided to just do it themselves. Martin Shkreli, the infamous "Pharma Bro" who raised the price of a lifesaving drug 5000% overnight, faces up to 20 years in prison for charges of fraud. Despite fiery rhetoric from President Trump, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, clarifies that military actions against North Korea will only be measures of last resort. Web host GoDaddy has given the Daily Stormer 24 hours notice to switch providers, following the site's mocking of a victim of the Charlottesville rally. Research shows a significant decline in sperm count among Western men. [http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170810-the-medieval-lab-hidden-inside-a-famous-monument The BBC on Robert Hooke's wacky adventures with public funds. All in the name of science, of course!] White nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA: Car plows into crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring dozens. 6000+ people hold far-right rock concert in Germany featuring Hitler salute, "Heil" chant and 40+ other racist crimes. Hundreds of white nationalists protest in the University of Virginia, against whatever oppression they are facing. US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un confront each other in a nuclear standoff. In a move that leaves many wide... mouthed, Goatse.cx is stretching its boundaries and expanding into Goatse Coin, its own crytocurrency. Shit just got real: Researchers encode malware in a strand of DNA that compromises the computer analyzing it. Emails reveal that scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are required to avoid making explicit references to climate change. Donald Trump proposes to cut the number of legal immigrants to the United States in half. But economists argue that reducing or halting legal immigration to the United States does not necessarily lead to more jobs for Americans. Special counsel investigating possible Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential Election Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury and issued subpoenas. Venezuela ousts their top prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz (a Chavista who has been challenging the legality of Maduro's activities). Her passport and accounts have been seized and her employees in their office have been surrounded by National Guard soldiers. Faced with potential lawsuits, the EPA reverses an earlier decision to delay the implementation of air pollution standards introduced by the Obama administration. In related news, climate change now poses a real workplace hazard in certain parts of the United States.

A National Security Council member is fired after writing a crazy memo alleging a conspiracy between Islamists and "globalists" / "Cultural Marxists", utilizing Maoist insurgency tactics, to defeat Trump's political agenda. Jordan votes to repeal its "marry the rapist" law. Sen. Cory Booker introduced a bill that would legalize marijuana at the federal level, with incentives for the states that haven't done so to legalize it, too.