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

May 2017
Trump expected to withdraw from Paris climate deal. Citizenship of certain countries is now a commodity. Trump is launching his own subscription box service. Order now and receive “a handpicked bundle of exclusive and vintage OFFICIAL Donald J. Trump merchandise delivered to your door every month as a recurring donor.” Lebanon calls for ban of Wonder Woman 2017 movie due to the film's lead star, Gal Gadot, being an Israeli that served in the Israel Defense Force and supports it. Dr. Farid Fata, a convicted cancer quack who administered unnecessary treatments to his victims, will spend forty years in prison. A man goes on an "anti-Muslim and anti-everything" rant at two Middle Eastern-looking women on a commuter train in Portland, Oregon. When other passengers get up and confront him over it, he fatally stabs two of them. [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/25/us/politics/trump-travel-ban-blocked.html? 4th Ct. Court of Appeals pwns Trump's Muslim ban]: "an Executive Order that in text speaks with vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination." (text of the order) "He had the massive boat designed by a veteran of amusement park attractions, commissioned an original soundtrack to enhance the experience, and stocked the interior with an animatronic (and freakishly real) talking Noah, along with lifelike models of Earth’s manifold creatures. Including dinosaurs...And he saw that it was good." The Washington Post profiles the Creation Museum, an amusement park in Kentucky built by Ken Ham and Answers in Genesis. An astroturfing bot is spamming the FCC website with anti-net neutrality comments using customer names and addresses. You can check if your name's been misused at comcastroturf.com - for now. The Trump administration has been warned by the British Home Secretary to stop leaking details of their ongoing counter-terrorism investigations to reporters after the identity of the bomber was revealed before his house was searched. [http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/24/529812746/he-is-something-trump-visits-pope-francis-at-the-vatican Pope Francis and Trump exchange gifts during the president's visit to the Vatican. Trump gave His Holiness books by Martin Luther King Jr. while the Pope gave the president copies of his writings, including his encyclical on climate change.] [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/us/politics/trump-duterte-phone-transcript-philippine-drug-crackdown.html? Donald Trump praised Rodrigo "I am like Hitler" Duterte for his drug policy.] Trump signs Holocaust memorial guestbook the way only he can. (Warning: Autoplay video). Trump's latest budget proposal: "dead on arrival on Capitol Hill." Emergency services on alert in Manchester after an explosion is reported at an Ariana Grande concert. Update: 22 fatalities reported. Facebook's bizarre rulebook on dealing with violence, sex, etc. Making threats towards Trump, for example, is not acceptable, but insinuating violence against anyone else is totally okay. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has begun dismantling Obama-era regulation on Internet service providers, better known as Net Neutrality. After the hottest year ever, The Global Seed Vault, designed to preserve crop varieties for future generations, is flooded by melting permafrost. Fired FBI Director James Comey agrees to testify before a Senate intel committee. Sweden temporarily suspends rape investigation surrounding Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Lawsuit: The male athletes at America's largest Baptist university (Baylor University) used gang rape as a "bonding experience". Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is expected to announce today Thursday that he is resigning before the end of this congressional term. A car has sped into pedestrians in Times Square, injuring at least twenty-two people and killing one person. The suspected driver is in police custody. New anti-scientific education legislation finds success in various US states, encouraging the teaching of controversies. Naturally, evolution and climate change are the victims. Roger Ailes, founding CEO of Fox News, dead at 77. Four people have been arrested in East London in another MI5-corrdinated anti-terror raid. Chelsea Manning has been released from prison. NATO is scrambling to tailor its upcoming meeting to avoid taxing President Donald Trump’s notoriously short attention span. (Not the Onion). Trump Revealed Highly Classified Intelligence to Russia, via New York Times. The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal in a case which struck down discriminatory voting laws in North Carolina, via Vox. GOP overturns 14 Obama-era rules. Is Mexico really the second deadliest country? Contradictory evidence abounds. Andrew Snelling of Answers in Genesis is suing the National Park Service for refusing to give him a Grand Canyon research permit. The US Senate blocked the repeal of an Obama-era environmental protection rule restricting the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. In related news, here is a (possibly incomplete) list of environmental protection rules the Trump administration has attempted to overturn so far. Because when half of the country is making Watergate comparisons, who better to invite to the White House than... Henry Kissinger? White house press secretary Sean Spicer literally hid in the bushes to avoid answering questions about James Comey's firing. Recently-elected French president Emanuel Macron wants to fight global warming and is inviting U.S. experts to France to help. In a totally above-board move that in no way looks like Watergate, Nixon Trump fires Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox FBI Director James Comey. Belgium's Walloon parliament has banned the killing of unstunned animals, harming the production of traditional Kosher and Halal meat in the country - those that do stun should be fine. After the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Donald Trump admitted to the Prime Minister of Australia that Australians have better healthcare. Ironically, Australia's universal healthcare system is called Medicare. Texas adoption agencies could ban couples that are Jewish, Muslim, gay, interfaith, and/or single from adopting based on religious grounds. The religious right are the latest constituency that Donald Trump abandoned his promises towards, as his "religious freedom" executive order turns out to be more smoke and mirrors. Gardaí (Irish Police) launch blasphemy probe into Stephen Fry comments on 'The Meaning of Life'

Tennessee Senator Mark E. Green, Trump’s second nominee to be secretary of the Army, pulls out of the nomination after being lambasted for criticizing federal attempts to bar discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender people in workplaces and businesses. Trump tries to air "fake news" 2020 campaign ad; is rejected by all major TV networks. Donald Trump freezes funding for groups fighting white supremacism. The US House successfully votes to repeal Obamacare. It could only get enough votes once they found a way to strip protections for those with pre-existing conditions and exponentially raise their costs in addition to ensuring that 24 million people will lose their insurance. The bill still has to pass the Senate, where it is likely to face massive changes in order to even have a chance. Actually, the Senate won't vote on House Trumpcare bill, will instead draft a whole new bill (Warning Autoplay Video). In a stroke of irony, alt-righters call for Stephen Colbert to be taken off the air after allegedly homophobic comments involving Donald Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin. Who's a special snowflake now? Despite claiming it to be a racist organization run by Nazis, Ottoman Sultan Recip I continues to demand entry into the European Union despite no attempt to conform with its entry requirements or else he is leaving and never coming back. DAESH claims responsibility for a suicide bombing in Kabul which killed eight civilians and wounded three American soldiers. With inter-religious tensions increasing in Uttar Pradesh, four members of a Hindu nationalist group are arrested for the murder of a Muslim farmer over an interfaith marriage. Brexit 'divorce bill' could go up to €100bn after fresh demands from EU member states. Puerto Rico officially files for a bankruptcy-like proceeding to restructure its massive debt load after talks with its creditors failed. California Lawmakers Want Third-Gender Option on IDs. NBC News Fox News InfoWars (can you believe InfoWars isn't transphobic here?) Founder of Reddit's RedPill forum outed as a New Hampshire state senator Bobby Fisher. The Supreme Court rejects an attempt to overturn the gay conversion therapy ban in California. Congress rejects Trump's call for $1.2 billion cut for the NIH in the 2017 fiscal year and approves $2 billion funding boost for the next five months.