RationalWiki talk:What is going on in the world?/Archive37

another event adding to an increasing risk of a 21st century reawakening of the Troubles.
not really. the real ira and the continuity ira has been going (relatively speaking) for the last 20 years. AMassiveGay (talk) 14:51, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

Not to mention there's a group called the New IRA ( NIRA ) nowadays--Boredsocialist (talk) 11:32, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

Rishi Sunak's 5% cut to UK public services
is nothing new because Sajid Javid proposed them two weeks. Same shit, different face. LondonGrump (talk) 22:50, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

is it coincedence...
…that trump is nostalgic for gone with the wind in his oscar rant? AMassiveGay (talk) 15:54, 21 February 2020 (UTC)

Now I'm not telling you guys to buy his book, but how much of this alarmist crap do you think is true? 🤔
It's a long video, and it's filled with dirty marketing tactics and logical fallacies, but I've seen some videos of the quarantined cities in China and videos posted from citizens neglected by the government... I believe a section should be added about this to the 2019CoV RW page. https://survivecoronavirus.org (sorry if this is off-topic and in the wrong place) 😁
 * Based on nothing more than the scare-mongering name of the weblink, less than 1%. Semipenultimate (talk) 20:59, 2 March 2020 (UTC)

I still think some of it is worth a look. It's that kind of unanswered stuff that breeds conspiracists.

Trump boasting
Trump brags about his 'natural ability' for science because of his 'super genius uncle' who was an MIT professor and claims CDC officials ask him how he knows so much about the coronavirus. He says : "Every one of these doctors said 'How do you know so much about this?' Maybe I have a natural ability." https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8084629/Trump-brags-science-knowledge-super-genius-uncle-MIT-professor.html Occultations (talk) 13:42, 10 March 2020 (UTC)

I will not lie...
...That's actually a genius idea. — Jeh2ow Damn son!  15:48, 10 March 2020 (UTC)

I think we're going to need a separate "What is going on with the coronavirus" WIGO
Just like we've got "What is going on with the elections" to stop this page getting filled up with nothing but election stuff, I think we're going to need another WIGO for the coronavirus. Otherwise, a good part of this year's WIGO World, certainly the rest of March, all of April and all of September to December, could end up being nothing but the virus. Spud (talk) 16:33, 13 March 2020 (UTC)
 * I think that's a good idea. Then, once the pandemic subsides, we can just archive it or something. G Man (talk) 04:48, 17 March 2020 (UTC)
 * already got duplicate articles in clogs and world Aloysius the Gaul 22:54, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Islamic State puts out coronavirus advisory advising quarantine and handwashing
https://theprint.in/world/trust-in-god-wash-hands-before-eating-flee-from-sick-isis-issues-coronavirus-advisory/380771/ Whats that clickhole article? "The Worst person you know just made a great point" or some such? 96.241.209.54 (talk) 12:37, 15 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes. — Oxyaena Harass  13:42, 15 March 2020 (UTC)

Stop putting clogs-worthy content in WIGO World!
Things like Trump caling a report terrible for making questions, the Senator saying it's ok for millions to die to save the economy or the "lick the floor" guy should be placed in Clogs, not here. Stop doing that.Tuxer (talk) 12:40, 21 March 2020 (UTC)
 * The President having a meltdown when asked to reassure people isn't newsworthy? You do understand that Clogs is for fundies and conspiracy nuts, right? Not the fucking President of the USA. Right? RoundeTheeHorne (talk) 13:26, 21 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Clogs: "This is RationalWiki's snarkilicious take on some of the more "WTF?" or egregious blog posts, editorials, videos and social media posts out there"
 * Blogs: "all the interesting world news and current events that relate to RationalWiki's mission here"
 * Think you've got the wrong end of the stick Tux. Nuf said. Scream!! (talk) 13:35, 21 March 2020 (UTC)

We have WIGO for Covid-19
Can we use that? Thanks. I was also cussed out by for commenting out a story that's certainly related to the pandemic (it says right there that it's policy related, a response to the virus) and we're still getting news on it. Can you guys please follow instructions? Or at least clarify what goes on there and not on WIGO World? Sheesh. 18:21, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

Typo
Israeli Supreme Court rules in favor of prisioners' rights to unlimited time phone calls. Demoncard (talk) 04:09, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I corrected the typo. But in future, feel free to do this yourself. Bongolian (talk) 05:15, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

labour, antisemitism and dogshit poor wigos
this wigo is bullshit from start to finish.

first off, it is not 'the' report in to antisemitism. its a report on some individuals within the labour party, only some of which deals with antisemitism. it is a report drawn up in the dying days of Corbyn leadership that shows factionalism within the labour, but only the anti Corbyn faction. some individuals in the report were involved in investigating antisemitism, and it seems be intended to throw shade on whistleblowers who are providing testimonies to the ehrc or have made them to panorama. its unclear who commissioned the report or who wrote it. the focus is more about supposed efforts to undermine Corbyn, and to have him ousted by causing him to lose the general election. to call this 'the' report into antisemitism is misleading bullshit doubly so when stating that the report will not be sent to the equality and human rights commission when in labour has sent plenty of evidence to ehrc already - it was deemed by lawyers not within the scope of ehrc's investigation, which itself is ongoing.

the wigo's claim that it disproves claims of antisemitism within the labour party, the claim it was a manufactroversy, is complete bullshit contradicted explicitly in the report in the report itself - 'the report thoroughly disproves that antisemitism is not a problem in the party, that it is a smear or a witch hunt. the reports prove the scale of the problem, and could help end the denialism amongst parts of the party.' you will note that's the exact opposite of what this wigo claims, and it is even highlighted at the end of article linked to within the wigo, as is the fact the labour has already made a number of submissions to the ehrc.

the bulk of this report is made up of emails and WhatsApp chats where party members say mean things about Corbyn and pals, because hey are meanies. claims of providing misinformation and inaction are at this stage unproven claims. the factionalism in this report is both one sided and nothing new in the labour party, indeed the whole report is as much an example as it is expose.

for fucks sake, stop posting dogshit wigos and actually read the articles linked. AMassiveGay (talk) 13:02, 14 April 2020 (UTC)
 * im commenting it out. its a complete misrepresentation of what is essentially Corbyn supporters failing to take any responsibility at all for labours failures. AMassiveGay (talk) 13:09, 14 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I actually read the wigo before posting it which is why I added it. I will change the wording but unless you can evidence to the contrary that blairites cynically used antisemitism charges to push for status quo horseshit, you're just whinging. Tuxer (talk) 15:02, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
 * the report itself says the complete opposite. you are full of shit. AMassiveGay (talk) 16:04, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
 * you drastically over state the of significance of factional report on anything but the factionalism within the labour party. AMassiveGay (talk) 16:09, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
 * as for 'whinging' - considering the bullshit that was originally in the wigo, go fuck yourself AMassiveGay (talk) 16:15, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I suspected you were bullshiting but thank you for confirming it.Tuxer (talk) 17:54, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
 * you are full of shit. you've not addressed anything I have said. I repeat. go fuck yourself AMassiveGay (talk) 18:40, 18 April 2020 (UTC)

I have provided more evidence for anti-Corbyn bias than you have about anything. Tuxer (talk) 19:57, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
 * then you haven't read what my initial complaint was then dumb fuck AMassiveGay (talk) 20:01, 18 April 2020 (UTC)

Ugh
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/14/beyond-predatory-trump-treasury-department-gives-banks-green-light-seize-1200

Somehow the bourgeoisie always find a way to be so self-servingly corrupt, even evil, and don't give me your pro-capitalist bullshit on this. This is, and I quote, "beyond predatory."

Anyone who's okay with this is a monster, and the people who allowed this should be shot. The people who perpetrate this should be slowly tortured to death. I am *beyond* pissed.

Capitalism is dying, and it's taking all of us down with it. We're screwed. — Oxyaena Harass  13:59, 18 April 2020 (UTC)


 * I agree that this is a truly despicable thing, but I don't think calling for torture and violence is appropriate in any case. Whatever empathy I had with your position went right out the fucking door when you advocated genocide. Cosmikdebris (talk) 16:17, 18 April 2020 (UTC)


 * Spare me your moralizing shit, this is definitely "let them eat cake." They don't care if we die, hell at times it seems like they want us to die, pay evil unto evil is what I say. This is the problem with fucking liberals, they always endeavor to take the moral high ground even if it means losing. If you honestly think I`m advocating genocide you're insane, but I`m not gonna FUCKING weep for some piece of shit billionaire when he gets his due, hell, I'll be celebrating it. — Oxyaena Harass  18:23, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Rather than pitchforks and torches, the best tool to use for this probably is (as much as I bitch about the scene :) ) social media. Many major banks are not using the stimulus to pay uncollected debts even though they could. One bank, USAA, was doing so, but switched pretty quickly after users bitched hard about it on social media. The reason is pretty obvious: the optics are very, very bad to take away emergency money in a pandemic (obviously). So while a bank could Ebenezer Scrooge hardball, they'd be stupid to do so IMHO. If a bank happens to be, feel free to direct vicious anger at them, they will deserve it. :) Soundwave106 (talk) 20:12, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
 * On the other hand I think this might be America's "let them eat cake" moment. Ok maybe not but as an outsider I must say that America's situation is pretty bad and the only guy who could fix it lost the primaries. I guess we start praying that the guilotines memes remain just that.Tuxer (talk) 17:56, 18 April 2020 (UTC)

Speaking as a mod: hold off the violent rhetoric. Thanks. 00:46, 19 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I feel like getting all worked up about the violent rhetoric and ignoring the actual problem here is what makes liberals so ineffective, they get all worked up over style without taking into account substance. Now Soundwave deals with substance without harping exclusively on style, I like that. — Oxyaena Harass  07:05, 19 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Presentation is a thing. You could be the greatest orator since Cicero, but if you're standing there with a great big clown nose and your pants round your ankles, vanishingly few people will ever take you seriously. Stop doing / saying stupid stuff and see what happens? Helena Bonham Carter (talk) 13:22, 19 April 2020 (UTC)
 * You think this is my only forum? Also, . Furthermore, I've been told many times I am a great orator, but to each their own I guess. — Oxyaena Harass  13:55, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

The Intercept
If we're using that as a reliable source now, can we use The Drudge Report too? RoundeTheeHorne (talk) 07:51, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * And why do you think the Intercept is not reliable?Tuxer (talk) 09:02, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Something something neoliberal bullshit something something. — Oxyaena Harass  09:49, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * You mean besides it being the last resort for the Sandersnistas, determined to get Trump reelected? But sure, go ahead and spread long-discredited propaganda. Look where "but her e-mails' got you. Then again. you'll all be dead before November, so it won't matter. RoundeTheeHorne (talk) 11:44, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * No, you piece of shit, this is legitimate evidence that lends credibility to Tara Reade's report. What happened to "believe her," you evil fuck? — Oxyaena Harass  09:10, 26 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Nobody on the left gave a shit about Clinton's emails it was manufactroversy pushed by rating-seeking media and rightwing degenerates. Also Joe Biden is a boring centrist that has all of Clinton's weaknesses and none of her few positive qualities as a politician. He very likely will lose to Trump.Tuxer (talk) 15:29, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Media Bias/Fact Check rates The intercept as "high" in factual reporting, but properly recognizes its left bias. However they rate Drudge as a "questionable source" "due to promotion of propaganda and conspiracy theories, as well as for publishing fake news and the use of highly questionable sources." Comparing the two is not valid. Cosmikdebris (talk) 15:42, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * A better comparison of The Intercept is Reason.com, which is also high in factual reporting, but has an extremely strong libertarian tilt. As such, any reporting seen at Reason that would be the sort of story that tickles a libertarian's worldview should give consideration that they probably won't say anything about the counterpoint. I would say the same for The Intercept and anything that tickles the progressive left's worldview (though The Intercept is pretty good at "kicking the ball rolling" with various investigative reporting). CNN also has an article on the subject in question and the difference is that the Intercept article is all about one side, and the CNN article includes both. Soundwave106 (talk) 19:13, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

Hey jackass, you're not just allowed to delete other's WIGO contributions without good justification, you shit. — <font color="Absolute Zero">Oxyaena <font color="Magenta">Harass  09:08, 26 April 2020 (UTC)

Drama
I notice lots of reporting on her allegations, but very little on the fact she changed her article on medium.com and her allegations seem lifted straight from her dead dad's book. Maybe add these, so it doesn't look like you're pushing Russian propaganda. I mean, I know Bernie lost, but that's no reason to re-elect the fascists, right? Or don't, whatever. The facts don't count when you have an agenda to push, right? (I bet these don't appear in the WIGO). SmallGreenBall (talk) 13:20, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
 * It's not just you. I think her allegations are bunk too. The timing is too convenient for Trump, and there's very little evidence supporting her claims. All she has is testimony stating that she told people, not testimony stating that Biden did anything to her.Tyrian (talk) 18:27, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Oh, absolutely. Oh, an this trollcollapse is illegitimate. 20:40, 30 April 2020 (UTC)
 * No, it was legit. I don't know if you noticed, due to your need to to find any excuse to justify voting for Biden dispite these allegations (You have one, but this isn't it), but both of those were community articles, i.e. they were not written by the staff of the Daily Kos. They also weirdly have these little notes about not being subject to review... Maybe those might be important? Nextly, the second one is um... Ok, it's just a conspiracy theory. The Medium article is a hachetjob. I'm collapsing this thread, again.  21:08, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

Silvercorp USA and Venezuela
It's in terrible taste because of the loss of life and the incipient harm to our already "strained" relations with Venezuela, but I actually burst out laughing when I saw that this Jordan Goudreau cat had taken to Twitter in the midst of his operation and apparently equipped them with at least one airsoft rifle. I think he might actually be the Soldier from TF2. --Artificius (talk) 18:44, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
 * So this is less a sequel to Bay of Pigs and more a gritty remake of Michael Moore's Canadian Bacon.-- Forerunner (talk) 22:52, 5 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Kind of an obscure (or maybe dated, I was young when that came out) reference, and gods I hope not. It's a stupid movie, but most of the analogous events are only in the potential future. Trump may yet equivocate and claim good people on both sides as he's wont to do when his rhetoric gets real somewhere. --Artificius (talk) 03:46, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

Some flags of countries that are not Arab countries are showing up as flags of Arab countries
Like Turkey, Cyprus, Iran and Israel. &mdash; Unsigned, by: 173.52.214.86 / talk
 * Are you referring to the fag-changing gif Middle East flag loop.gif? That's Middle_East_flag_loop.gif and isn't intended to show only Arabic nations, but all Middle Eastern countries. MrChris (talk) 10:40, 27 May 2020 (UTC)
 * And the news story that it's illustrating mentions Turkey and Iran. And it's taken from an Israeli newspaper. Spud (talk) 14:30, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

why is this WIGO so depressing?
I don’t understand how come this WIGO is so negative and full of depressing news, can’t we at least post something positive for once?
 * No, the world is a horrible place filled with worn out husks, spiteful pigs and greasy, used car salesmen. AceModerator 02:51, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
 * You forgot about spilled milk. So much spilled milk... 03:28, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Minneapolis rioters beat, rob disabled woman, spray her with fire extinguisher
Can someone add this to the page? Pretty big. --2001:8003:59DB:4100:4C5F:B01:29FA:2061 (talk) 02:51, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/national-file/ Put the webshite away please, no one wants what you're selling. 74.58.218.79 (talk) 04:12, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

Philadelphia gun store owner shoots and kills looter
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/philadelphia-gun-store-owner-shoots-and-kills-looter Don't loot gun stores. Even better; don't loot at all. --2001:8003:59DB:4100:C524:C28B:7141:DE6C (talk) 04:58, 3 June 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't feel bad about the looter's fate and while the store owner was in the right to shoot because the looter aimed a gun at him, don't be inspired to engage in vigilantism or purchase guns, guys. 05:36, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

Greek solidarity protest throwing molotovs in front of the american embassy
https://twitter.com/CerveauxNon/status/1268269513105199104 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protests-greece/greek-demonstrators-hurl-firebombs-towards-us-embassy-in-athens-idUSKBN23A2ZL 96.241.209.54 (talk) 22:48, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

DEA granted authority toperform surveillance on Floyd protestors
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/george-floyd-police-brutality-protests-government?bftwnews&utm_term=4ldqpgc#4ldqpgc

96.241.209.54 (talk) 23:17, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

Joe Biden shares picture of himself kneeling with demonstrator at George Floyd protest
Joe Biden takes the knee. --2001:8003:59DB:4100:9989:9A1C:F3EB:598C (talk) 07:34, 4 June 2020 (UTC)

Red herring fallacy
https://lawandcrime.com/george-floyd-death/authorities-just-released-george-floyds-complete-autopsy-report-read-it-here/ Fentanyl 11 ng/mL, Norfentanyl 5.6 ng/mL, 4-ANPP 0.65 ng/mL, Methamphetamine 19 ng/mL, Various types of THC: 11-Hydroxy Delta-9 THC 1.2 ng/mL; Delta-9 Carboxy THC 42 ng/mL; Delta-9 THC 2.9 ng/mL, Cotinine positive, Caffeine positive. Not good. --2001:8003:59DB:4100:645C:440:3D20:CEC2 (talk) 02:53, 5 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Weird how those chemicals manifested a cop's leg on his throat, until he suffocated and died. One might even say it's "not good" to distract from that... 02:58, 5 June 2020 (UTC)
 * weird how he died from a heart attack and not suffocation too. --2001:8003:59DB:4100:645C:440:3D20:CEC2 (talk) 03:01, 5 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Bullshit. That report is bullshit. No mention of neck wounds. Very odd. Almost as if they lied. (Hint, they lied.) 03:07, 5 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Banned. Fuck off with that bullshit. 03:13, 5 June 2020 (UTC)

Trump Rally Prank
Is this "causing him to speak at an half empty arena" framing really correct? Not sure, but I heard the tickets were basically unlimited and entry was on a first-come-first-serve basis, which would imply that everyone who wanted to be there was actually there and got a seat. All those prank ticket reservations then would have done is to artificially inflate the expected number of participants, which may be disappointing for Trump, but not the reason why the place was less than half-filled. Or am I wrong here somehow? --Irian (talk) 08:15, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
 * You are correct, I've reworded the WIGO to reflect this. Soundwave106 (talk) 19:06, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
 * So isn't denying that the low turnout was the result of a prank basically admitting that nobody wanted to go?--Hastur! (talk) 21:31, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Yeah, pretty much, in a way Trump doesn't realize. Heh. :) (Though I suspect a lot of the cause of the low attendance is COVID-19 fears, which exist even among the Trump voting demographic. So I wouldn't read a lot into this, other than Trump was stupid for trying a rally in times like this in the first place.) Soundwave106 (talk) 21:49, 21 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Yeah my big time Trumpie grandparents are genuinely taking the pandemic seriously. A lot of older people are being cautious right now regardless of what Trump is saying about it, if only out of self preservation. 08:34, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

Disbanding police
Why don't you ask our good friends in Canada how that went in Montreal? The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 16:52, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
 * You mean when Trudeau, Sr suppressed civil liberties and persecuted Quebecois dissidents? — <font color="Purple">Oxyaena <font color="Red">Harass  18:00, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
 * That's a rather charitable take on the FLQ, but yes; the is what I refer to. Somehow, I don't get the sense the city was better off during that time. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 18:05, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
 * You... do realize that they were already angry, right? The Murray-Hill riot was not the first riot held over the grievances it was held over. When the cops went on strike, the riots intensified because they saw an opportunity to be heard. Tyrian (talk) 13:11, 27 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, I'm absolutely aware of that. And to use one obvious example, the taxi drivers were not looking for "an opportunity to be heard", they were looking for an opportunity to burn down and completely destroy the limo drivers who competed with them. That notably did not happen when the police were there, only when they were striking. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 09:08, 29 June 2020 (UTC)
 * You seem pretty adamant that the solution was to police people instead of getting rid of what was upsetting them. The fact is, they would not have rioted if something were not seriously wrong with the situation. Tyrian (talk) 12:03, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
 * They did indeed have some legitimate grievances, but the FLQ was also a terrorist group; allowing them to overrun a city seems inadvisable, to put it mildly. So the solution is both; let people be heard, and be more responsive to those things which are actually possible to work out (that's on the Canadian government), but don't let them indiscriminately bomb places and try to burn a city to the ground. It still isn't obvious to me that Montreal came out ahead as a result of said rioting. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 12:50, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
 * So you're equivocating the non-violent protestors here with literal terrorists. Tyrian (talk) 20:11, 30 June 2020 (UTC)
 * I'm not equivocating anything; I only said if you want a world without police you can look to Montreal during the Murray-Hill riots as an example of how that will work out. And based on what's happened in Seattle so far, I'm not convinced that (for better or otherwise) I'm all that far off the truth. It's easy to be so full of what is right that you (generic you) can't see what is either good or true, and that's where a depressing number of people seem to be. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 06:47, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
 * You mean the shootings? Those are being caused by Proud Boys, KKK... hate groups. The police still aren't needed. We just need criminal justice- not one specific criminal justice system. Tyrian (talk) 13:05, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
 * At least from what I've seen the shootings there aren't white supremacist agitators (indeed it's not clear how they'd even get into some of the places this has gone on), though it's possible I missed something. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 02:49, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

I heard a downright revolutionary bit on the radio, apparently the Minneapolis City Council want to replace their police force with something else entirely. Figured this would be the place to discuss how this would actually look in practice, if it amounted to anything other than police under another name.Artificius (talk) 20:28, 6 June 2020 (UTC)
 * It's a good news item for a WIGO, to be sure. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 22:16, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Fighting racism by tearing down statues
Black Lives Matter was such a breath of fresh air when it started. Finally, a left-leaning political movement focused on reforming police departments and courts: things that politics can actually do.

Now it threatens to fizzle into irrelevance by making war on public monuments. That sort of thing makes enemies and blunts the moral force of the movement. And its concrete improvement to human lives is exactly zilch. Can't we have one progressive movement that doesn't fritter away its focus on irrelevant manufactroversies ove symbols? Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱsos. 15:59, 11 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. It's so much easier to fall for the thrill of smashing things than to use the true levers of power to effect actual change. Working political questions out takes actual time, effort, and ability to work with people who don't necessarily fully agree with you. Get there, and people will figure out for themselves what these statues truly represent (and put them in a museum where they can be accompanied by proper explanations; it's American history, whether anyone likes it or not, and history should be preserved instead of wished away). And as an aside, it's amazing how people assume far too much intelligence of Columbus and other early European explorers; it's not as if this was the first time Europeans enslaved and horribly mistreated people (seriously, notice the etymology of the word slave in English), and in the Americas diseases no one understood killed far more indigenous people than anything else. Thinking that Europeans had some grand scheme at the outset to kill off everyone they encountered gives their foresight and general competence far too much credit. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 05:03, 12 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Well, the thing is that the right genuinely seems to want those statues to stay up. Political change only happens when you make the status quo start feeling uncomfortable- so those statues provide the perfect weakpoint to exploit for that. Basically, they hold the monuments hostage in order to get what they want.  Tyrian (talk) 13:38, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
 * The first documented epidemic in the Americas occurred in 1518, a full 26 years after the arrival of Europeans to the Americas, and yet we already see a drastic decrease in native populations before then. See this video. — <font color="Purple">Oxyaena <font color="Red">Harass  05:43, 25 June 2020 (UTC)
 * First documented epidemic. Therein lie two major problems, 1. we really don't have a great sense of what the starting population was and 2. these things spread way faster than the Europeans who were writing about them. Obviously they also engaged in mass killings (though what we now call genocide was basically unremarkable in the world at that time), and in places like the Aztec Empire this is very well documented; in those cases, it was European weaponry (not the ideas of the Europeans wielding it) that was far superior. But even then, the English (talk about the pot calling the kettle black) went on a huge PR campaign to demonize the Spanish even beyond their actual actions (contrary to the video, historians don't seriously doubt this), so it gets confusing rather quickly. (Interesting video, by the way, don't agree with a lot of its conclusions and not a huge fan of some of the guilt-by-association, but it's at least an honest argument; points off, though, for claiming buffalos could be domesticated because 1. it's not true and 2. buffalos are native to Africa and Asia (the picture he used was of a Cape buffalo, conspicuously absent in the New World), bison are American) The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 05:56, 25 June 2020 (UTC)
 * European weaponry wasn't that much superior to Mesoamerican weaponry at the time, an obsidian sword could cut through solid steel. Also, how is pointing out that Knowing Better is using fascist talking points "guilt by association"? As for the buffalo thing, that's the joke. Also, as the video points out, the Black Legend is a myth, even Wikipedia calls "alleged." — <font color="Purple">Oxyaena <font color="Red">Harass  11:27, 29 June 2020 (UTC)
 * While obsidian is effective as a weapon you have to be close enough to use it; against guns it wouldn't have been much help, and even when closer cotton armor was even more useless against steel blades. I didn't see any indication the buffalo thing was a joke, but it's entirely possible I missed that. And as to guilt by association, now that you say it that makes more sense; still, though, I didn't see that KB actually got the ideas directly from those sources (which is a good reason to cite things, KB!). Finally, the article also says that most scholars accept it, they just debate the nature of it; while it may not have an impact on modern historiography, it's also not hard to see how an earlier distorted view of Columbus could still impact popular perception of him. And one more side note, the report that takedown video cited as evidence of Columbus' brutality is not necessarily neutral source; a Spanish man would've had plenty of reason to make the Italian Columbus look bad, which the takedown video didn't acknowledge. It doesn't disprove it, but there's at least some reason to take it with a grain of salt. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 11:40, 29 June 2020 (UTC)
 * the exact details of just how brutal columbus may or may not actually have been are not really relevant to the case of his statues being torn down. these statues do not represent american history, that remains where it has always been, contained within libraries. public monuments and statues represent the american myths of its foundation and of its values. myths that either ignore the horrific fates of its victims or even revel in their subjugation. these statues that celebrate the heroes of imperialism and colonialism, or heroes of the confederacy do not just represent a mythic history either. for indigenous people all over the americas, for black americans, the effects of racism and oppression, of murder and of genocide, is still very much current. if it were not so, few would care enough to tear these statues down, few would fight to keep them. statues that celebrate columbus celebrate the figurehead of an apocalypse that in the us leaves only a handful of surviving native americans in a neglected poverty on reservations. statues that celebrate general lee celebrate not the vanquishing of a great evil, but the nobility of those who fought to deny others their humanity, to be treated as little more than cattle, who fought a war to preserve slavery which is still in many ways being fought today.
 * the symbols of the confederacy are still alive and well today. these statues are not neutral. they are not history. they are a glaring reminder that the american myth of life liberty and justice is not meant for all. is that still the us you want to celebrate with your public monuments? AMassiveGay (talk) 15:18, 29 June 2020 (UTC)
 * No. And I think moralizing over the destruction of these statues also ignores the fact that in many cases multi-year legal battles by natives of those communities (cities, towns, counties, etc) have been ongoing to try get said statues torn down, and that in fact it is the Federal and State government that has stonewalled these efforts with meaningless drivel, if not outright bile. 15:37, 29 June 2020 (UTC)

I think people are on stronger ground re. removal of Confederate statuary. There were definite spikes in their installation "...in the 1910s and 1920s, when states were enacting Jim Crow laws, and later in the 1950s and 1960s, amid the Civil Rights Movement." Pretty blatant racist territorial pissing. Helena Bonham Carter (talk) 15:53, 29 June 2020 (UTC)

CHAZ (capital hill autonomous zone) is no more! (Claims Razorfist groupies)
Seattle mayor has finally cleared it out &mdash; Unsigned, by: 2001:8003:59DB:4100:D8:F959:769C:FEE9 / talk
 * I'll wait until real journalists cover it. 23:59, 1 July 2020 (UTC)
 * NPR, among others, is covering the story now. —cosmikdebris talk stalk 00:43, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Better than a Nazi talking head and what appears to be an aggregate site that passes off community contributions as staff work. And also apparently pushes conspiracy theories. 01:09, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Can't imagine why anybody thought it would be a good idea--Hastur! (talk) 01:26, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * The CHAZ? 01:29, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, the CHAZ--Hastur! (talk) 01:32, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * That's the thing, they didn't. It was an accidental revolution. 01:35, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * This whole incident, ever since it started, has shown me that most who discussed CHAZ had little to no idea what it actually was.-Flandres (talk) 01:55, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Would that include me in your view? Just out of curiosity. 02:00, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I was more referring to right wing talking heads claiming this mas a communist junta headed by basement-dwelling college students and left wingers claiming this was the start of an immediate trend or a general uprising.-Flandres (talk) 02:08, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * The former I've seen, while the latter has been completely absent from the leftist circles I'm in. Or rather, it has been as far as I know. 02:16, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Note that I said "talking heads" for right wingers and did not make that distinction for the left. When I said "most" I meant "most," so left wing friends offline have said that to me personally. Essentially, I was trying to say no matter their political views whenever I talked to someone about CHAZ or saw coverage on it in any context(even one that is not necessarily political, like small talk in the vein of "did you see this on the news today"), there was a much higher than usual risk of it being wrong.-Flandres (talk) 02:21, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Apologies, I wasn't trying to accuse, merely express surprise. 02:26, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

In fairness
There's only one protection against old age, and I doubt most people would truly want to go that route. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 02:46, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

ISIS and drugs
Now I know “no ethical consumption under capitalism” and whatever but here’s the thing. Sometimes you just love doing drugs, but you can b pretty certain that whatever you’re buying is funding some unsavoury types. Where I live, coke usually funds the cartels, meth usually finds bikies, H funds international gangs, etc., all of whom are extremely violent and unpleasant types of people. This thing about the ISIS pills makes me interested in the question — to what extent is buying drugs more or less ethical than any other type of capitalist transaction? Does it matter depending on whether you get it from, say, a street dealer vs the dark web vs a friend of a friend? Where does the Dutch MDMA/psychedelic trade fit into all this? Idk maybe this isn’t interesting or relevant to anyone else but I think about it a lot. Buying drugs ethically can b pretty damn hard lmao KetamineIsGood69 (talk) 08:35, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * (Also the problem isn’t just “gangs are bad” — the problem is that they often fund movements that murder, enslave, etc huge parts of the population of various countries - eg the ties between cartels and fascist paramilitaries in South America, the ISIS thing, etc. It’s not just “some breaking bad types” you’re funding, it’s quite often genuinely powerful organisations that crush hundreds, or thousands, or people underneath them) KetamineIsGood69 (talk) 08:38, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I mean, that's a pretty valid ethical question in my opinion. And here's where I'm going to give an interesting answer. Buying drugs or what have you from a massive criminal empire is exactly as (un)ethical (though not as legal) as buying products from a multinational corporation. The effects of human suffering are comparable in their totality. I think there was a book or study that compared criminal syndicates and multinational corporations, but I don't remember what it was called or how to pull it up, or even whether it panned out in peer review. 15:52, 2 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I'll dispute the Commie some other time, though at the end I will only slightly agree with 'em.
 * Buying drugs from a known criminal gang is as ethical as buying the services of a prostitute who was likely forced into sexual slavery. You didn't force her (or him, I don't judge... ok I judge but I really shouldn't) into the situation, but it's not the exchange of money for sex that is itself unethical.  It's unethical because without you, the end user of such services, the woman (or man) wouldn't have been kidnapped and raped and so forth in order to provide you with those services at all, so you don't get to claim innocence.  Likewise, it's also similar to buying probably fenced electronics.  Sure, you personally didn't break into any homes, but without someone at the end to actually buy the product, the thieves would never have stolen the goods in the first place.
 * Buying from a multinational corp isn't the same as buying from a criminal gang, but there are a couple of notable cases. I'm going to mention one.  Chocolate is delicious, but the processing of raw powder is labor intensive.  How do they manage to get cocoa powder for a mere $1/pound?  In many cases, actual, bona fide slavery.  It's possible to get non-slave chocolate, but it's really easy for a supplier to hide their sources and besides, as a multinational you aren't asking any questions beyond "is there any way you can deliver more for cheaper".  Even your organic, fair-trade cocoa isn't completely safe; remember that these certifiers are also corporations that only get paid if they give a certification, and even if your certifier is respectable it's still exploitation given that the farmer themself receives barely anything extra for the certification in spite of the cocoa powder being literally ten times the price.  It's also complicated; if you were to ban chocolate entirely, while the slavery might disappear, you aren't exactly saving the world considering that these people weren't looking at a choice between "slavery" vs "freedom", but "slavery" vs "starvation".  Really, the best solution is to have the certifiers be government rather than private corporations, but the US doesn't exactly have jurisdiction over Coitus D'Ivory or whatever that country is called. CoryUsar (talk) 05:02, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
 * "I'll dispute the Commie some other time..." Err... I wonder to whom you are referring... It can't be me, for I am not a communist. I kind of can't be a communist due to several of my views on society and economics... 15:59, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

glee lady?
how is this news about some actress from glee being missing on-mission here in the slightest? 138.207.198.74 (talk) 23:44, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't know either. But you can just vote neutral for the time being. 23:52, 9 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I mean, sure. But couldn't a seasoned editor like you just.... boldly revert it? It feels so weird to keep seeing it, but I can't myself due to page protection. 138.207.198.74 (talk) 03:57, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I've hidden it. The next time you go to the page, you won't see it. Spud (talk) 04:29, 10 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Seriously?--Hastur! (talk) 04:30, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

Supreme Court Rules Government Can't Tell Religious Schools Who to Hire and Fire
Can someone add this to RationalWiki:What is going on in the world? Pretty huge Supreme Court ruling if you ask me. --2001:8003:59DB:4100:2D64:62E:2F9F:5687 (talk) 12:09, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

Fascist adjacent
I admit I don't know much about Bari Weiss, but how exactly is a Jewish woman from New York City "fascist adjacent" and since when did this site actively celebrate workplace harassment? There's obviously something I'm not seeing, so what did I miss here? The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 19:47, 15 July 2020 (UTC)
 * She defended Tom Cotton's "Call in the military to crush the protests" Op-ed. It's good that she left the NYT because she vocally defends fascist-adjacent and anti-democratic people. 19:49, 15 July 2020 (UTC)
 * My understanding was she defended his right to publish it, not the contents therein; I can at least see the value in giving him enough rope to hang himself (which is just what happened, he looked ridiculous in the end). If she defended what he said, that'd be harder to swallow. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 19:58, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

Unmarked Vehicles Kidnapping Protestors
This is some scary s***. I may be too young (I'm in my mid 20s), but I dont remember a thing like this ever happening in the past in the United States. This is like something the KGB would do. MirrorIrorriM (talk) 12:37, 17 July 2020 (UTC)
 * While the United States has more authoritarian thuggery dirty laundry in its past than the "freedom" chanting crowd would like to admit (see things ranging from how the US handled labor disputes in the turn of the century, to questionable CIA stunts and McCarthyism bullshit), I don't think we've ever had a president like this, who combines authoritarian thuggery wannabe-ism with a low intelligence life-long grifter, who only has gotten to where he has due to a combination of Daddy's money and bigotry.
 * If there is a consolation prize, Donald Trump does tend to poll his lowest every time he pulls off an authoritarian or racist stunt. People from the 'burbs are the swing vote political wonk types are identifying, and Trump's response is... sending jack booted thugs to the 'burbs? Great. I'm sure it will play well on Fox News but Trump can't win with his base alone.
 * (BTW it's telling that the Infowars / conspiracy crowd is generally saying absolutely nothing about this. Not that we didn't already know that most of the pushers are con men that aren't really concerned about government thuggery at all, and more concerned about exploiting bigoted fear for the purpose of pushing questionable bullshit products. This is just another demonstration.) Soundwave106 (talk) 15:59, 17 July 2020 (UTC)

Monument for Waffen SS soldiers in Canada gets defaced, police call it a hate crime
A monument to Ukrainians who served in the SS to fight the Reds has had Nazi spray painted on it and the Canadian police called it a hate crime on the basis that it is an attack against Ukrainians, not the whole they served in the fucking SS thing and the SS being the paramilitary arm of the Party thing. The monument literally had the Waffen SS insignia.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/17/canada-nazi-monument-vandalism-hate-crime https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/graffiti-on-memorial-to-nazi-ss-division-now-being-investigated-as-vandalism?fbclid=IwAR3T9rOcwXNitZHE0UXOUnk_Py7fx8lypsZJvCtN6v8xjiABvRCnIuReGkA

“At no time did the Halton regional police service consider that the identifiable group targeted by the graffiti was Nazis,” the police said, instead suggesting it was the Ukrainian community that was targeted. “We regret any hurt caused by misinformation that suggests that the service in any way supports Nazism.” Fucking whoops In response to the 2017 furor over the monument, Ihor Michalchyshyn, executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, rejected outright any suggestions Ukrainians collaborated with Nazi Germany during the Second World War. “I think that the premise of calling them Nazi collaborators is slanderous,” he told the National Post at the time." Its somehow slanderous to say Ukrainians collaberated with the Nazis when they join the Waffen SS and the memorial bears their insignia 203.100.222.84 (talk) 08:32, 18 July 2020 (UTC)

Maxwell and Wohl
After reading article, it seems that the claims of Maxwell employing Wohl are based on A), written testimony by Jack Burkman, Wohl's partner in crime, B) court documents with noticeable errors, and C), a story in the Daily Mail. The first has no credibility. None, nada zip bupkis. The second might have some credibility, but the glaring errors (Maxwell's shell company is Granite Reality, as opposed to the documents' claimed it was Granite Realty), make me very wary. Court documents tend to be written by people who are sticklers for getting these sorts of things correct, lest cases be damaged or lawsuits erupt. The last source has as much credibility as Wohl and Burkman themselves. Overall, without stronger evidence, I personally find these claims to be highly suspect. 12:54, 22 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Agreed. Obvious Wohl / Burkman bullshit that should be given zero credence on WIGO World. Helena Bonham Carter (talk) 13:07, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

Explosion in Beirut, Lebanon injures 3000, destroys import docks
Lebanon, already in the grip of an economic crisis and the pandemic, has now suffered an explosion in a port that handles 90% of it's sea imports https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53656220 2600:1003:B45D:A887:161B:E4EF:9D2D:9F9A (talk) 20:42, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

HBO Axios Interview with Trump
Thats nearly 40 minutes long, my dudes. Can we get a link to an article summarising the most egregious parts or at least a couple of sentences pointing out whatever awful shit fell out of his gaping mouth?203.100.222.84 (talk) 21:42, 4 August 2020 (UTC)


 * Watch it all, there's honestly no single segment that stands out more than others. It's 40 minutes of unbelievable bollox from Trump Cardinal Chang (talk) 18:14, 5 August 2020 (UTC)
 * I haven't listened to the whole 40 minutes, but Vox appears to have a good summary of the rolling disaster. Bongolian (talk) 07:27, 6 August 2020 (UTC)

Trump's Executive Order
Although the administration claims that it is doing all the wonderful things that the WIGOW entry says it does, it is both not valid in law and doesn't do anything close to extend the human rights protections that were put in place. It modifies and reduces them, and nowhere does it say anything about postponing the evictions. The entry needs to be either edited or removed A God (talk) 06:00, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

The changes to Title IX
Regardless of who DeVos worked with, the things that were going on before were totally inexcusable. And if you genuinely believe her predecessors cared about equality, look up the reaction to Avital Ronell; I don't care if she worked with the devil's spawn, the regulations were illegally implemented (no Notice and Comment period, in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act) and had to change. Some might consider said people "groups that care about due process", which should actually matter. Amazing that the same people shrieking about overincarceration are losing their shit at reforms that will help innocent people accused of a horrible offense; no one has yet explained how they're in any way bad for anyone. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 15:47, 19 August 2020 (UTC)
 * your claims run contrary to the claims in the article. not in the us so cant really comment on how thing are done over there, but one change to sprang out at me is the live cross examination of alleged victims by the accused. in my neck of the woods has been deemed so traumatic to the victims many will not go trial. the use pre recorded evidence has been brought to get around this. i understand us courts do not insist on live cross examination of victims either.
 * that all said and not being in the us and all, why are the police not investigating rape on campus in the first place? AMassiveGay (talk) 18:43, 19 August 2020 (UTC)
 * In principle I agree with that, but if colleges are going to be doing it they must allow cross examination. American courts repeatedly cite it as "the greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth", and disallowing it due to perceived trauma presumes said person is telling the truth; the point is to determine the truth. Presuming innocence is supposed to be a cornerstone of the legal system. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 19:15, 19 August 2020 (UTC)
 * I an sick and tired of self-proclaimed 'leftists' who do not stick up for the rights of the accused, due process, and the presumption of innocence. "Believe the victims" has a proven track record of turning out very very badly.  And nobody bats an eye if anyone consults, say, the Sierra Club on environmental regulations either.  Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱsos. 20:13, 19 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Can you provide examples of "believe the victims turning out bad"?—Tuxer (talk) 20:30, 19 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Duke LaCrosse case? CoryUsar (talk) 20:46, 19 August 2020 (UTC)
 * That's the obvious one. A Rape on Campus is the other really famous flameout in recent times. One would also think the recovered memory therapy and daycare Satanic abuse panics would've been a warning sign too. The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 23:47, 19 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Is that the one where the girl claimed she was raped by two hockey players and sodomized with the sticks, then it turned out she made it up? They turned it into a LO:SVU episode.  Hold on, let me look it up... yes, it appears to be that one. CoryUsar (talk) 19:04, 20 August 2020 (UTC)
 * The one I'm thinking of was at UVA, where a woman plagiarized dialogue from Dawson's Creek and claimed several (non-existent) people gang raped her as part of an initiation ritual. It strained credulity from the start. There was also an incident, not far from me, where an accuser actually got some jail time at Sacred Heart for fabricating some story; one of the morals of that on is, if you make up an allegation of any kind, probably not a good idea to text/e-mail someone and say, "I'm making this up". The Blade of the Northern Lights (<font face="MS Mincho" color="black">話して下さい ) 23:41, 20 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Also, story time.
 * Back in highschool, I had a bully. Numerous bullies, actually, but this particular one was a girl bully.  A bulless?  Cowy?  Heifery?
 * Well, one day I get back at her, actually manage to humiliate her in front of class. Tears and all, but she was both popular and hated at the same time, so most people took my side.  Teacher in that class just laughed, but made sure I knew to knock it off (incidentally that teacher was ALSO a minor bully of mine, my high school was BRÜTAL, but at least he got fired a few years later for some sort of improper behavior with female students).
 * Couple days later, she and I have some minor hissy fight outside, so she goes to a school counselor who immediately became her advocate, and claims I followed her to the parking lot and looked like I was trying to rape her. So... the police were called in.  And checked the cameras.  And nope, I was never at the lot.  Meantime, I'm called in to some room (no police there), not knowing what was going on.  Eventually, we find out what happened, and the counselor who had it out for me and was pushing as hard as she could to railroad me, well, she claims that sometimes kids in love do stupid things.  Which I take to mean that the girl made up some story about having a crush on me in order to avoid any punishment for a false rape claim.
 * No, her name was not Karen.
 * So yes, false rape claims are a thing. CoryUsar (talk) 22:18, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

Melania Trump's Rose Garden
I can't wait to read entries about her choice of shoes as well. LondonGrump (talk) 13:42, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Polio eradicated in Africa
After a massive immunization campaign, the Africa Regional Certification Commission, a branch of the World Health Organization, declared that wild poliovirus has been eliminated in Nigeria, meaning Africa is effectively free of polio.--SonOfStranger (talk) 12:30, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

move trump interview to clogosphere?
copied here: "Trump, in a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham, leans further into conspiracy theories, claiming, without providing any evidence, that Joe Biden is being controlled by 'people that are in the dark shadows'."

should this be moved to the clogosphere? it's interesting in a lunatic-watching sense, but it probably isn't a notable news article in a general context. Autumncheney (talk) 03:32, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

Black Hole Merger
The statement "...equal to the energy of eight suns" is ambiguous in this context. It should say something like "the mass equivalent of eight suns was converted to gravitational energy". 124.171.73.196 (talk) 02:56, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

Is this news worthy?
Career Criminal Held for Alleged Murder of BLM-Supporting White Teenager, No Known Motive. Why would a 60 year old black man shoot a 19 year old white man 🤔?
 * Why don't you ask media bias fact check? 20:59, 17 September 2020 (UTC)

Labour chaos
Are you having a fucking bubble? Is this the Daily Mail? Words matter; choose them carefully; avoid pastiche unless you understand the weight of language; fuck off if you think that kind of wording is appropriate outside the London Tory tabloid bubble. LondonGrump (talk) 21:19, 25 September 2020 (UTC)
 * They wasted an opportunity to make a Keir 'no drama' Starmer pun. Unfortunate. --RWRW (talk) 01:32, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

'Unconstitutional' is not the right word here
Generally speaking, because foreign nationals are not the beneficiaries of US Constitutional rights, there can be no Constitutional right to immigrate into the USA. Ideological restrictions on immigration into the United States are outside the scope of the First Amendment and have historically been upheld. See generally, Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753 (1972), which held that a professed communist had no right to enter the USA on a visa. Whether the INS is acting within the scope of current legislation is one thing; and the wisdom of the INS's decision is another; but foreign nationals have no right to enter the USA even if the First Amendment would protect the activities for which they were excluded. Smerdis of Tlön, wekʷōm teḱsos. 06:49, 5 October 2020 (UTC)

Broken link
The link to the USCIS website for the story on immigration isn't working for me. Can anyone else access it? Is the document down/moved? Is there a news story that can be linked? --Annanoon (talk) 10:10, 5 October 2020 (UTC)

Dutch newspaper claims hacker broke into Donald Trump's Twitter account using the password "maga2020!".
Just to confirm that our president is indeed a monkey. [] --SonOfStranger (talk) 18:48, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

Trump co-opts all saints day to be about illegal immigration
unsure if it should go under WIGOW or WIGOE so i put it in both. Gives me the vibe of him wanting to destroy anything he can on the way out https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/trump-november-1-day-remembrance-killed-illegal-aliens-b1479852.html 96.241.209.54 (talk) 00:00, 2 November 2020 (UTC)

A WIGO for nice things
So as discussed here, I have been setting up a WIGO in my userspace to focus specifically on positive news stories and whatnot. It is now live here, and I would appreciate some help making it look nice! Additionally, while I don’t think it’s worth making into its own Official WIGO, I was wondering if/when I could link to it somewhere in the WIGO pages for COVID, elections, and world? Any help is appreciated, thank you so much! I’m going to bed now but yeah, if you wanna have a go I think it would be very nice :) 16:10, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

Permissions
Hi, I’m new around here. This is probably a stupid question, but… How old your account must be to add an entry? Mikwee (talk) 10:01, 28 November 2020 (UTC)

no, it isnt brexit.
at least not solely. and the current gridlock largely due to the french government shutting the border with no notice due to the new strain of covid. theres plenty to be disdainful about brexit but this isnt one. yet. AMassiveGay (talk) 00:38, 22 December 2020 (UTC)

the queens speech
your about 30 years late on clocking channel 4 doing an alternative. as they go, this one is incredibly unremarkable, which a pretty charitable view to say the least. does a really poor deepfake alert us to the dangers of deepfakes? concern over trust in media comes bit late anyhow. twitter and facebook have been drowning trust in media in a torrent of shit for years. a couple of weak jokes at various princes is pretty low effort as satire goes and even the surrounding controversy seems even more contrived than it usually is. i guess every one is phoning it in this year 82.5.75.153 (talk) 17:27, 26 December 2020 (UTC)

In addition to the Adding of the two public holidays, can it be mentioned that it was announced on the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide
Not to be that guy who makes excuses for conspiracy theorists and anti-immigration jack a loons, but I feel like we should mention that the government of Ukraine's decision may have been out of respect for the tens of thousands of people who died in the mass deportation. Otherwise, it sounds like something Pamela Geller could use for their Eurabia conspiracy. &mdash; Unsigned, by: 209.128.2.98 / talk

It's Rick Snyder, not Scott Snyder
Folks, the name of the Ex-Gov. that is facing charges for the Flint water crisis is Rick Snyder, not Scott. Dunno how to edit that, so here you go. Thanks. Commissairejuve 20:15, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

Gamestop Wall Street Bets Surge
I think this should definitely be added to What Is Going On in the World, and maybe warrants an article to itself.
 * Added it. As for a possible article on this fiasco, I'm surprised RationalWiki does not have an article on Wall Street itself yet, given the number of true and untrue accusations of wrongdoing against Wall Street and its players. CommanderOzEvolved (talk) (contribs) 09:57, 29 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Just want to point out for anyone getting in on this; it's a very public case of market manipulation and is a pump and dump. I encourage anyone who doesn't want to risk the SEC on their ass to stay away from this. IANAL, this is not legal advice and I am also not an economist, but please don't commit financial fraud. 10:30, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

RSS?
Sorry if the talk page isn't the place to ask but I couldn't find a better page.

Is there a way of subscribing to WIGO through RSS? And maybe also filtering by rating, e.g. all > 20pts.

Thanks! &mdash; Unsigned, by: 91.193.4.117 / talk 11:06, 11 February 2021 (UTC)

Lord Frost
is not a nobleman. He is a life peer, politically appointed to the House of Lords to represent whichever party gave him the peerage. The title dies when he does. LondonGrump (talk) 10:42, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Im not sure of the significance of 'unelected' here. hes a peer - they are all unelected and its not unheard for them to be in the cabinet. therenot common but not so unusual as to be of particular concern. for comparison, how many members of a US president's government are elected officials? they are all appointees are they not? AMassiveGay (talk) 21:58, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
 * The norm for UK is that cabinet secretaries are MPs. It's not universal or law, but it's normal.  ikanreed 🐐Bleat at me 22:05, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
 * its really not unusua AMassiveGay (talk) 22:29, 18 February 2021 (UTC)

another day another shitty wigo
firstly, not 'brought in' by anyone except voting labour party members. secondly, no where is mentioned that he opposes the minimum wage. the article refers to the family business once paying its staff less than the 'real living wage'. this is a wage paid by companies to staff on a voluntary basis. presumably it paid the the minimum wage at the very least, that one is mandatory. sarwar has stated he believes the real living wage should be mandatory, not voluntary.

Sarwar is not or ever been a director of the company and had no say of in how it was run. even less now since he gave up his shares in 2017, when this story initially broke. hes also never been a business man. since he left university he was briefly a dentist until he was elected MP in 2010. hardly donald trump. trump would be proud of the level of disingenuous partisan dipshittery and lies in such a short wigo though. bravo

could people before they post wigos, pause, review the wigo and the source, and just double check you havnt accidently pulled it completely out of your fucking arse. not supposed to edit other peoples wigos but im gonna AMassiveGay (talk) 17:10, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
 * just downvote it-Hastur! (talk) 17:13, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
 * it was literally all a complete fabrication. 17:18, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
 * we haul conservapedia over the coals for the exact same shit.AMassiveGay (talk) 17:43, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Perhaps it should have read "Scottish Labour chooses another neo-liberal cunt to shit all over the workers like Keir Starmer". LondonGrump (talk) 18:17, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
 * The criticism of Sarwar definitely should be he's another career, machine politician who knows nothing other than seeking advancement in Scottish Labour (a much less lucrative pot than it was, but evidently some still see it as a career especially if you believe in nothing). --Annanoon (talk) 10:00, 3 March 2021 (UTC)
 * that would not have been supported by the link either AMassiveGay (talk) 12:19, 3 March 2021 (UTC)