RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/May 2022

May 2022
 A racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic extremist former Army reservist who described himself as a "nihilistic millennial" claimed ignorance about his role in the January 6 insurrection, but the jury saw through his pile of bullshit and convicted him on all counts  [https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-61576584 Sigh. Another mass shooting in the US. Elementary school this time] (yet again). Update: a bunch of conspiracy theories about the shooter have been pushed, falsely claiming he was Trans illegal immigrant or something. Credit where credit is due; at least it's a more creative conspiracy than "crisis actors" [https://www.npr.org/2022/05/23/1100592132/united-nations-food-shortages UN warns of global food shortage caused by the war in Ukraine, a devastating heat wave in India, and economic problems in China and many other nations. This year, the UN estimates that global food prices have risen by almost one-third, fertilizer by more than half, and oil prices by almost two-thirds.] [https://www.npr.org/2022/05/24/1099591174/election-results-midterms-trump-biden-fraud-poll-workers-michigan-denial States across the US prepare to deal with rogue poll workers influenced by Donald Trump's false claims of a "stolen" election. On top of that, many local election canvassers who certified Biden's win in 2020 have been purged by the Republican Party].  In cowboy country, a father and husband troubled by suicide reimagines American masculinity, one conversation at a time  Photographs have been leaked to ITV News showing Johnson openly having a party in the second lockdown despite it being illegal to do so.  A Russian soldier, aged 21, is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an unarmed civilian. Ukraine says this is the first of many war crimes trials. [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghanistan-war-taliban-resistance-panjshir-massoud-fighting-deaths-displaced/ The Afghanistan War reignites as the National Resistance Forces (NRF) attack Taliban positions in the Panjshir Valley. The NRF also accuses the Taliban of committing war crimes in retaliation against its actions]. Afghanistan hardening restrictions on women: ordering them to wear head-to-toe clothing that leaves only their eyes visible while in public, barring girls from attending school past sixth-grade, and demanding that female television presenters cover their faces.  Belgian authorities have connected an outbreak of monkeypox to the recent gay fetish Darklands festival in Antwerp, after three visitors contracted the virus during the event. It appears to be part of a worldwide outbreak, although numbers are still small.  The Washington Post has revealed that back in 2014, Tucker Carlson e-mailed Joe Biden's son Hunter, to try to help his son Buckley to get a place in the highly distinguished Georgetown University. Ironically the e-mail was found on Biden's laptop, the same laptop that was involved in an earlier scandal back in 2019 in relation to Zelenskyy and Ukraine. Non-paywall version [https://www.npr.org/2022/05/18/1099733752/famine-africa-ukraine-invasion-drought More than 23 million people are facing extreme hunger in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. Factors include the region's worst drought in 40 years, and falling food exports from Russia and Ukraine, which supply 90% of the wheat in East Africa. While the international community sent $16 billion in one month to help Ukraine, so far the East African hunger crisis has only received $93 million.]  Sri Lanka’s central bank has confirmed the country has missed a deadline for foreign debt repayments, the first sovereign default in the Asia-Pacific region this century, according to Moody’s.  Met police conclude their Partygate investigation, with 126 fines being issued to 83 individuals. Boris Johnson hasn't received any additional fines.   Sweden and Finland have both formally submitted their applications to join NATO.   Russian lawmakers have said it is looking to withdraw from World Trade Organization and World Health Organization. <vote poll=world202093350223> The new head of the policing watchdog, the and former chief of police for Merseyside Andy Cooke, has said that police officers should use their lawful discretion regarding shoplifting of food, in order to eat it. <vote poll=world202093350222>Azovstal surrenders - now the question is whether Russia will stick to the agreement and allow the Azov battalion troops to be exchanged as POW's, with one Russian MP calling for them to be executed. ISW Daily campaign assessment for May 17 notes that many Russian bloggers are outraged that negotiations were entered into in the first place - reflecting the uncompromising propaganda about Russian successes attacking the plant, and the "nazi" nature of the defenders. <vote poll=world202093350221>Aum Shinrikyo, Basque separatist group ETA, and radical Jewish group Kahane Kach all taken off the US' terror blacklist for being completely irrelevant. <vote poll=world202093350220> The racist Great Replacement conspiracy theory and thinly veiled white nationalism have gone mainstream on the political right thanks to hate and anger-fueled media exemplified by Tucker Carlson. <vote poll=world202093350219> The mayor and city of Miami, Florida backed a speculative cryptocurrency asset called "MiamiCoin", which has dramatically crashed and is now worth about a third of a penny. <vote poll=world202093350218> Blackpool FC's Jake Daniels has come out as gay, making him the first openly gay male professional footballer in UK soccer in over 30 years after Justin Fashanu, and only the second current gay male professional footballer worldwide. <vote poll=world202093350217>  No Big Mac for you. Restaurant chain McDonald's has said it is to completely withdrew from the Russian market and sell its 847 restaurants to a local buyer. And no, va-va-voom for you, the French giant carmaker Renault has sold off its 66% stake in its Russian subsidiary AvtoVaz, also known as Lada, to a state-owned institute. <vote poll=world202093350214> NASA-funded project at the University of Florida manages to grow plants in lunar soil samples. <vote poll=world202093350215>  Texas Supreme Court rules that child welfare agencies can launch child abuse investigations into parents and doctors who provide gender-affirming care for trans youth. <vote poll=world202093350216> Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts plans to hold a special legislative session to pass a total abortion ban with no rape or incest exception should Roe be overturned. <vote poll=world202093350213> Finland formally confirms its bid to join NATO, a move made in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. <vote poll=world202093350212> The United States passes one million Covid deaths. <vote poll=world202093350211> El Salvador, which embraced bitcoin as legal tender and invested substantial public funds in it, lunges towards default as the value of the cryptocurrency plummets <vote poll=world202093350210> The NFT market collapses <vote poll=world202093350209> Leaked US Supreme Court opinion suggests abortion law repeal. Interestingly, this is one of the rare times an opinion is "accidentally" revealed beforehand, leading to speculation that someone intentionally leaked it in hopes of pressuring SCOTUS to change their mind. It's unclear what this means on a State level, but expect a plethora of states (with a certain balance of legislators) suddenly deciding to criminalize abortions.

<vote poll=world202093350208>  Due to the situation in the BVI, the UK government has said it is planning to establish direct-rule over the overseas territory.