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

March 2014
SC state senate crushes little girl's hopes and dreams. Rand Paul, the gift that keeps on giving. Kimmy is in a tantrum again. Must be time for more food subsidies. A four year old Oregon boy was beaten to death because his mother thought he was growing up gay. What the hell did Putin tell Obama? (Karma for the Syria diplomatic 'coup'?)

Three California state senators suspended following independent corruption charges. Sen. Yee in particular for selling illegal weapons while passing gun control legislation. Of note liberal friends: "we" do the hypocrisy and corruption thing too. Conservative Iraq refugee who painted patriotic art gunned down for looking Muslim. Sigh. Wednesday's meeting of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology has far more stupid than science going on (although Representative Eric Swalwell (D–CA) did manage to get in some good zingers, at least.) Though it pains us all to say it: Thank you, David Cameron. Tennessee's Governor signs into law what can only be described as a pretty fucked-up take on religious freedom.
 * 1) CancelColbert; because some people just don't understand satire.

Antonin Scalia is trying to redefine the word 'domestic assault', Todd Akin style. Even Chris Christie's lawyers' take on Fort Lee scandal is not good. Obama sends NSA reform to Congress, probably to put the House GOP in a hard place. In full irony, Rand Paul asks why he isn't doing it via executive power. Croatian Constitutional Court upholds the constitutionality of mandatory vaccination of children, stating that the right of children to have good health is more important than the right of parents to make wrong decisions.(In English.) Astronomers and cosmologists are having a great month: A "surprise discovery" soon to be announced by the European Space Observatory. Update: Everyone, meet the newest members of our solar system... the an asteroid with rings and Joe Biden! As if North Korea couldn't get more outlandish. Update: It's more of a recommendation than strict order. Homeopathic manufacturer recalls product because it might contain real medicine. Because being transphobic is not bigoted enough, meet a school that's tomboy-phobic.

Condom-wrapped illegal highs, worth €40,000 were intercepted en route to the Vatican. Someone at the Vatican has a use for condoms after all. Our international nightmare of CNN turning its remaining vestiges into the History Channel of News (and making a mockery out of affected relatives' lives) is finally over. (Occam's Razor.) The lunar bukkake theory takes a hit. Note to anti-vax parents: It's not fun to have your kid be the "last documented case" of a preventable disease in a modern state. On a brighter note, however: on March 27 India will become the most recent nation to be declared polio free! (As long as they keep the anti-vaxxers out, at any rate.) My question to the Editor of the Daily Mail: Why do you deliberately suck so fucking hard at even the simplest of things?Link is to The Guardian, so no advertising monies to the Daily Heil from this link. Hooray!!!! Folks counter-protesting the Westboro Baptist Church take the high road. It would appear that Russian troops have attacked Ukrainian bases in Crimea. Another domino falls. A U.S. district judge has overturned Michigan's bans on gay marriage and same-sex adoption. The US' stance on the head of government filling Supreme Court seats with partisan, unimpartial judges: "If it gets approved in the Senate, it's fine. All presidents do it, what could go wrong?" The Canadian stance: "You are in direct violation of the Constitution. See that door behind you?" (Paragraphs 88-95 are heavenly.) Mar. 17: I fart in your general direction, Obama! Today: *crickets* [http://on.ft.com/1l88dyD Erm... shit.] Shit. What are we gonna do, sanction the man the Americans call 'Orange Overlord'? Boehner: Yay! Fred Phelps is dead. On the UN "Day of Happiness." Who is Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new pick for finance minister? A guy who claims that global warming is "exaggerated" and who said that aboriginal people would benefit from pipelines run through their "socially dysfunctional" communities. So, will we get a Glenn Beck pony soon? Stopped clock I suppose... Add Wyoming to the list of States where you don't want your children to be educated. "Hi, I can't access my bitcoin server, but I promise that I'm totally the owner of it. Pinky swear" Oh, in that case, here you go... Anything Glenn Beck can do, Caribou Barbie can do too. How conspiracy theories emerge on Facebook. tl;dr Poe's law, crank magnetism. Kevin Trudeau is going on a 10-year vacation. Study shows that both US public and police view black kids as older, less innocent than whites. (Warning: auto play video) "So we're a global warming denial institute. How do we get young urbanites to agree with us?" "Buy an organic coffee shop!"

The Australian Vaccination-Skeptics Network is stripped of charity status over its misinformation. *BICEP2 scientists shove in to Peter Higgs* Hand over the Nobel, we've just completed the theory of relativity. (Full report here and live stream here.) Update: Potentially two Nobels. Crimea votes overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation. (Putin's got some decisions to make.) Update: He's ignoring the referendum. Update #2: Oh wait, now he's recognizing it. Fred Phelps has apparently been excommunicated from the WBC and is near death. Update: WBC's spokesman Stephen Drain confirms that Fred is is in a care facility. After China abstains from a Russian veto at the UN (Sino-Soviet split reunion!), протесты начнутся в Москве. A federal judge in Tennessee grants a preliminary injunction against the state's same-sex marriage ban in certain cases, further remarking that, "proscriptions against same-sex marriage will soon become a footnote in the annals of American history." They might just have discovered themselves some Gravitational Waves. How Quebec intends to sell its "Charter of Values": anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Creationists attack Neil deGrasse Tyson for his blind faith in science. '''[http://www.dailydot.com/news/dogecoin-cryptsy-mt-gox-bitcoin/ Such exchange. So crash. Very panic. Wow. ]''' Just in case you thought of the Church of England as basically benign. (National Secular Society protest petition.) There may be as much water trapped deep in the earth as there is in all the world's oceans. We can't wait for the Hydroplate theory crowd to start up. Remember Arizona's hate the gays religious freedom bill, that Jan Brewer vetoed? Turns out she helped work on the wording. The Malaysia Airlines disappearance just got very bizarre.

Mr. Goatachev, tear down this wall! Time to have a look into Prince Charles' mind. No wonder why the Turkish government wants to ban Facebook and YouTube.

Comment of the day: "They'll want to put a kiwi on it, but really it should have a sheep on it. A sheep holding a rugby ball. A sheep with tattoos holding a rugby ball." Porn problem: not Canadian enough.

Free State Project interlopers are causing civil disturbances as they attempt to take over New Hampshire. All in the name of freedom, of course.

Newsmax wants to start their own TV channel to compete with Fox News. "Our goal is to be a little more boomer-oriented, more information-based rather than being vituperative and polarizing," Sad news for female children in Iraq: A draft law has been approved by the Iraqi cabinet that would permit the marriage of nine-year-old girls and assert a husband’s right to insist on sexual intercourse with his wife whenever he wants. A mother also would have no rights to custody of their children after age 2. The Sword of Damocles is over Putin's head. Thursday saw CPAC's most important panel: Minority outreach. Look at the crowds! (A photo of this same panel room full of people exists, because the outreach panel went over its time and the room began to fill for the next scheduled talk: NRA exec Wayne LaPierre.) United States of Socialist America! Hot on the heels of the conspiracy about Obama wanting to nuke America, Arizona's Senate passes a Teabagger-sponsored bill [http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2014/03/06/senate-passes-bill-to-help-arizonans-survive-disastrous-electric-pulse/? to protect its citizens against an EMP that could "cast America into the Dark Ages."] For the sentimental: A online community helps a little girl with a 3D printed prosthesis.

Jason Priest is a Pro-life, Tea Party state senator in Montana. He allegedly threw his 4 year old daughter 8 feet so she landed on her head and the child had injuries consistent with this. A police officer witnessed other serious assaults, "his commitment to “protecting” the unborn is apparently not matched by an equal commitment to protect children who have been born." Michele Bachmann explodes irony meters across the globe, by saying, that the Tea Party "at its core is an intellectual movement." Payback's a bitch for the bro who outed the Duke porn star. Thought CPAC was bad? Comments from the rival NSAS, "The Jews are the problem." Also, Obama's mind control raises its head again. So, how do you think the British would react if they found out that a right-wing billionaire had secretly owned BBC News and BBC World News since 1994? Now let's see how Americans react when they learn that PBS has been leading viewers to believe that the (MacNeil/Lehrer) NewsHour has been an in-house production for the last 20 years. (Full disclosure:  Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer have had full editorial control over the NewsHour the full time.  It's just that some taxpayer dollars may have made their way into the billionaire's pockets and . . . WHAT?!?  Miley Cyrus said what about Katy Perry?  Gotta read about that!) Another psychic fraud never saw it coming. The Dalai Lama now all but supports gay marriage. Newsweek: "We found the creator of Bitcoin!" Satoshi Nakamoto: "Get the fuck away from me! It's not me!" Newsweek: "Shit?" Everyone else: *Facepalm* Update: And the magazine's glorious return to print is... outta here! (And the cryptocurrency itself.)

Countdown to wingnut response of "See, there is a international movement that agrees that Evolution is wrong, and it's not just Christians." in 3...2...1... Media Matters creates new directory of wingnut lies, Mythopedia. Just in time for the Conservative Political Action Conference. [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/05/us/new-inquiry-into-cia-employees-amid-clashes-over-interrogation-program.html? Not only does the CIA lie to the oversight committee, they spy on them too (possibly to figure out who told them they were lying)] Facebook clamps down on people using the site for illegal gun sales American politics: Where the term "Establishment Republican" is now a badge of sanity. (Well, relative to the Teabaggers.) Baptist pastor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, arrested for allegedly raping a woman with mental disabilities. Ah...that god fella....what a trickster.....hiding the biggest virus ever seen in the permafrost 24,000 years before creation to save it from the floods so it could be newly discovered in the thaw! The Serbian Orthodox Church seeks to posthumously claim Nikola Tesla. Financial regulations are unconscionable statist oppression, part two. Haggard's Law of Internet Porn Filters: Patrick Rock, senior Tory involved in Internet porn filter plan, arrested on ... child porn charges. Since 2011, Phoenix area cops have been arresting "lawfully detaining" sex workers and taking them to a local church where they are given the ultimatum of prison time or time in a church-run diversion program. And no they aren't allowed to meet with defense council first. SCOTUS rules that merely a grand jury indictment, not an actual conviction, is enough for the government to freeze your assets. If only this happened to another country that invaded a certain state for a similarly trumped-up pretext. Update: And the reaction? [http://www.channel4.com/news/ukraine-russia-hague-putin-g7-war Ultimatum to attack! ...no, we didn't call one!]  What a mess, Putin. Apple, Inc. to climate change deniers: fuck off. (Of course, it was probably the Comic Sans that really annoyed Tim Cook.)