RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/April 2013

Canadian woman has marker put on her US Customs and Borders Service file. Her crime? Having condoms and traveling with a married man [1]. Follow-up from her [2]

17

Ireland's coalition government: "How about we get women wanting an abortion to have panel-based counselling from six to a dozen doctors?" The minister for children and the college of psychiatry: "How about no?"

11

People on US Terror Watch Lists can still buy guns. Of course, no one seems concerned about the arbitrary "enemies list" the US Government has...

14

NASA (accidentally?) drew a penis on the surface of Mars.

18

Bret Easton Ellis, The gay author of American Psycho, has been banned from attending GLAAD's Media Awards night on the grounds that "the gay community" responded negatively to his Tweets. Meanwhile, the guest host is that guy who instituted DADT and DOMA. For an extra punch in the gut, head to the comments section and watch them become gradually more and more homophobic with worrying upvote distribution.

23

French parliament passes law allowing same-sex marriage. 331 votes for and 225 against.

23

The ricin letter charges against Elvis impersonator and conspiracy theorist Paul Curtis have been dropped.

19

Bitcoin advocates burst into tears as Ron Paul says he isn't a fan.

4

Bomber in Boston Marathon attack cites the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts as source of grievance against the US (according to The Washington Post and its mysterious sources).

13

Dear idiots: prayer doesn't work. You might have figured that out by now.

9

Republican representative Dennis Johnson, of Oklahoma, uses the phrase "Jew me down" on the House floor.

20

Sorry Sam and Ann: An imam just helped the Mounties prevent an Al Qaeda-inspired terrorist attack in Canada.

10

~~Today we learned that the FBI has no fucking idea what a WMD is.~~ Alternatively the FBI does know what a WMD is, since it is defined in law, and it is Joe Public who does not.

10

How about the Higgs Englert Gurainik Kibble Brout Hagen Particle?

18

Serbia and Kosovo sign a historic agreement.

13

Another disturbing ethical oil statistic: Alberta, which consists of only 10% of Canuckistan's population, now contributes to half the country's AGW emissions.

30

Attention Cranks: this is how academia works

29

Apparently 10 seconds on Google is too hard for a number of people, forcing the Czech Republic's embassy to clear things up

8

Meet Ruslan "Badass" Tsarni. UPDATE: It's over, final suspect in custody. One seriously fucked up week.

36

Paul LePage, the Republican Governor of Maine, believes that windmill generators are actually "powered" with electricity when no wind is blowing to convince people clean energy works.

17

Meanwhile in Michigan, a church minister who has two prior convictions for attacking women is convicted of killing his fiance's 24-year-old daughter because he was jonesing for some necrophilia. Memo to churches: (1. BACKGROUND CHECKS, dammit! 2. If you did a background check and hired him anyway, this is why they included 1 Timothy 3:1-16 in that book you're always shoving in everybody's faces.)

16

Advertising Standards Authority has to tell a quack that you can't claim sitting in a cave will cure asthma. (HT Quackometer.)

24

The FBI has released images of Marathon suspects Update: It appears Boston Police have killed the first suspect after a firefight and explosions at MIT and Watertown. Update II: The entirety of Boston is shut down. Update III: Lockdown lifted, manhunt continues.

25

Second bombing in a week in Iraq, with a death toll nine times higher than the Boston Marathon bombing

15

Android app is developed to help the population of Iceland (300,000) avoid accidental incest.^{[No, not The Onion]}

16

Well, this is disappointing: more coal power plants are being installed than renewable ones.

17

The guy who sent the ricin letters is apparently a nutcase. And an Elvis impersonator.

13

US Senate (y'know, the one the Dems control) rejects gun background checks.

2

~~Arrest over Boston bombings: more details to follow~~ Wait a sec. (CNN fucked up big time again)

16

First a Mississippi Senator, now a package containing ricin just got sent to Obama.

49

Wait for it, wait for it… New Zealand set to pass gay marriage. (Live stream.) Update: bill passes with 77 votes for to 44 against - and the chamber breaks out in song. Update II: Conservatives Chris Auchinvole and Maurice Willaimson deliver the awesome.

9

A Dutch company is now accepting applications for a 2023 one-way colonisation trip to Mars, which will be filmed for a reality TV show.

12

Baby, I want to hike the Appalachian Trail again! I don't care if Colbert's sister beats me!

18

A nonpartisan review confirms everything we already know.

19

Kickstarter rejects all manner of sane pledge drives, but accepts a pledge drive for an anti-gravity device from someone who rejects mere current physics and compares himself to Copernicus. Here's the paper ... on viXra.

9

Belief in an angry God correlates with poor mental health.

12

You're too handsome to live in Saudi Arabia.

11

The Harper machine is beginning to fray at the edges.

14

How dare you ask me not to be an autocrat! Jail for you!

25

Two explosions at Boston marathon. Update: The NY Post brings the lies and islamophobia.

3

Someone put the von Mises Institute on suicide watch.

9

It appears a combination of prayer and inhuman treatment cures mental illness (If you're a wing nut)

14

"It's as though the Tories have fingerpainted 'FUCK OFF AND DIE' on Parliament in heavy crude."

25

Good news: Same-sex marriage in Ireland is headed to referendum in 2014 after being cleared by the constitutional convention: 100 votes break down as 79 yes, 18 no, 1 abstain, 2 spoiled. Better news: said referendum looks set to be a landslide. The writing is on the wall, and it spells "Equality". (clip of in-house announcement here.)

21

The Bitcoin network uses 982 megawatt-hours a day just computing hashes. That would power 31,000 American homes or half a Large Hadron Collider.

17

Look what you just did, Kim.

21

Thought racial segregation was a thing of the past? Think again.

18

The callous, dishonest bastard strikes again, only to have the Dept. of Health tell him to fuck off.

10

Ireland's constitutional convention starts discussing same-sex marriage today, and voting to clear it for referendum tomorrow. Links to live stream, timetables (in PDFs) and where the clips will be archived all here.

9

Welcome to North Carolina. Papers, please. And none of that ~~prayer~~ terrorism, you hear?

6

Hi, my name is Joe Oliver, and now I will show you why I shouldn't be in charge of Canada's natural resources.

11

Liz II: You do know that the Queen didn't die, right?

15

Senator Feinstein blames video games for mass violence.

8

Don't even think about speeding in Dubai

4

Is North Korea trolling us?

14

It was inevitable. (It's actually topped the UK iTunes chart, too) UPDATE: The sound of free speech

20

Looks like Mars might be a quicker trip than we thought.

25

During a committee hearing, Joe Barton actually said the following for the record: "I would point out that if you're a believer in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change and that certainly wasn't because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy."

3

~~DEFCON~~ Watchcon 2.

7

A non-US gun tragedy: 13 people killed in a shooting spree in Serbia.

6

April 9: Bitcoin is soaring! April 10: Maybe not...

9

Russian parliament moves ahead on ~~don't hurt God's feelings~~anti-blasphemy law

21

France is finally going to get gay marriage. Update: And Uruguay!

11

In Texas, a community college student stabs 14 people before being wrestled to the ground by two other students.

16

Today's US gun tragedy is brought to you by New Jersey, where a four-year-old shot a six-year-old in the head.

5

Blue Angels and Thunderbirds grounded by sequestration. *cough* the Washington Monument tactic *cough* If only they flew F-35s...

20

Rather than tackle any kind of actual issue, Oklahoma's house is busy making it perfectly clear they hate marriage equality to send a message to the Supreme Court. 84 vote in favour of a "one man one woman" affirmation, every democrat in favour of gay marriage walks away.

13

Putting the "Vice" in "Vice-Mayor"

9

Those lovable loonies from Westboro Baptist Church get set to picket Roger Ebert's funeral. Start taking bets on the possibility of Ebert rising from his coffin just to tell Steve Drain all of his videos are shit.

13

Evolution can work much faster than previously thought?

18

As one of Pinochet's friends passes away, one of his victims is exhumed

40

It would appear that "the ethical treatment of animals" includes the slaughter of nearly 2700 house pets per year. "...[I]n the last 11 years, PETA has killed 29,426 dogs, cats, rabbits, and other domestic animals."

22

Florida woman finds "sign from God" on Goldfish cracker.

54

Margaret Thatcher is dead.

16

You will be pleased to note that the Vatican does not seem to consider torrenting movies to violate "thou shalt not steal".

20

WikiLeaks unleashes the motherlode on Henry Kissinger: 2 million classified US documents from 1973-1976, five times the size of Cablegate. Have fun!

5

The US makes a smart military decision. Hard to think the Bush Administration would've played it this way. Update: Start laughing.

21

Fucking Andrew Wakefield rears his scaly head once more.

20

Fuck the Establishment Clause

22

Fundamentalist Muslims in the hundreds of thousands from Bangladesh: "Hang atheists for hurting our feelings over the internet! Update: Bangladesh's PM: Fuck off.

26

"Millionaires are raking in unemployment benefits." The number of unemployment claims for US households earning more than $1 million jumped 44% in 2009-10. (Considering how often right-wingers call working class people on the dole "leeches," it's kinda heartwarming to read the comment section and see them jumping to the defense of all these rich people sucking on the public teat.)

13

"It's time to redraw the map of the world during the reign of the dinosaurs."

32

Brooklyn judge declares birther "delusional", fines him $177K. In other news, Terry Hurlbut explodes.

15

North Korea declares that it can't guarantee the safety of British diplomats after 10 April, in the event of war. Update: Warns all embassies. Update II: A SK official actually predicted this beforehand.

4

Cameron, the minute you turn into a Blair clone is the minute your government will fall. Remember that.

29

The Human Rights Campaign shows its uglier, appearance-obsessed side once more. Last I checked, immigrants and transgender people are humans too.

28

Rest in peace, Roger Ebert. You will be missed. UPDATE: The official obituary posted to his blog Update II: The Onion's obituary for Ebert, that manages to be both classy, and The Onion, at the same time.