RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/February 2024
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February 2024[edit]
   | 13 |   Israeli soldiers opened fire on Gazans gathered around food aid trucks. At least dozens were killed, and hundreds injured. The aid trucks attempted to flee which caused more injuries. Hamas warned that the incident could endanger recent negotiations for a ceasefire. Update: There are some contradictory accounts about the exact events. Joe Biden's optimism about an upcoming ceasefire agreement appears to have withered in response to the incident. |
| 14 |  
Ghana’s parliament passed a bill that would put those identifying as LGBTQ+ in prison. |
| 24 |  Apple has killed off its electric car project, saying there is a lack of profit in pursuing such an idea. |
| 23 | Active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force Aaron Bushnell self-immolated outside of the Israeli embassy in the U.S. as a form of protest. He died of his injuries. This is the second self-immolation in protest of the Israel-Hamas war. |
| 15 |   South Korea defence chief reports that the DPRK has shipped approximately 6700 containers of munitions to Russia. Much of the exports were traded for food and he also reports that North Korea is prioritising exports over domestic arms manufacturing. |
| 26 |   Police were called to a warehouse in Glasgow after a scammer created and charged £35 per head for a badly made Willy Wonka experience. The scammer used AI created text and pictures on its promotional website. |
| 39 | There were neo-Nazis openly identifying themselves as Nazis at CPAC, NBC reports. The report states they mingled with mainstream conservatives at the event, "discussed 'race science' and antisemitic conspiracy theories", and used racial slurs. A senior CPAC fellow condemned the attendees. |
| 16 | Joe Biden states he's hopeful for a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas by March 4, after Hamas reportedly softened its demands. Biden said: "My national security adviser tells me that we're close … it's not done yet." An anonymous Israeli official told CNN that Israel was "surprised" by Biden's optimism. |
| 15 | Somebody mailed Donald Trump Jr. "white powder" in an envelope alongside a death threat. Trump Jr. states this was the second such letter he received. According to authorities, they believed the powder substance was not deadly, but tests were "inconclusive". |
| 24 | Sunak has been told to tone down the new Criminal Justice bill over plans to criminalise homelessness, including arresting for smelliness and camping in doorways. |
| 44 |    Sweden will officially become part of NATO. Hungary has approved their accession to the military alliance after some feet-dragging. |
| 44 |  Mexico City, one of the world's largest cities, could run completely out of water within months. Residents are already facing severe water shortages, with many taps running entirely dry for most of any given day. |
| 11 | 
New law in Tennessee allows state officials to refuse to approve gay marriages. |
| 21 |  Clarence Thomas hires Crystal Clanton as a law clerk, who has previously been accused of sending explicitly racist text messages including one that said "I hate black people". |
| 28 |  Jury finds three longtime NRA executives, including its hardline former leader Wayne LaPierre, liable in a civil trial in which they were accused of misspending millions in donated money to fund lavish lifestyles. |
| 3 |  
A trans-exclusionary lesbian bar is opening up in London. Considering lesbians are more accepting of trans women than any other sexual orientation group, this looks like it'd turn into a TERF bar, full of straight women, rather than a lesbian bar. |
| 21 | Jack Posobiec, an actual crypto-Nazi who has put triple parentheses and "1488" in his tweets before, was a guest at CPAC. He used his speaking time at a panel hosted by Steve Bannon to call for the end of democracy. Elsewhere, he gave a speech on stage attacking immigrants and homeless people, adding "the West will rise again." |
| 30 |  Vice News has evidently folded. |
| 15 |  Far-right newspaper, Israel Hayom leaked the lyrics for Israel's Eurovision 2024 song "October Rain", which caused a lot of controversy, since it has references to the 7 October attacks from Hamas. Israeli broadcaster Kan confirmed to Reuters the translated text to be accurate. Kan also mentioned that they will withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest if the EBU disqualifies it. |
| 32 |  German Bundestag votes on cannabis legalization, one of the ruling coalition's key election campaign promises. Update: The law was passed 407 - 226 (and four abstentions), legalizing controlled recreative use of cannabis by April this year. Bundestag English Source |
| 31 | Biden impeachment inquiry appears to be falling apart. According to the head of the inquiry himself, the "math keeps getting worse". |
| 28 |  A trove of documents linked to China's surveillance state has leaked. Per AP: "They reveal, in detail, methods used by Chinese authorities [to] surveil dissidents overseas, hack other nations and promote pro-Beijing narratives on social media." |
| 17 | Some red states seek Medicaid cuts for low-income adults (usually with some exceptions, e.g. disabled or elderly people; nonetheless could impact hundreds of thousands of people) by implementing work requirements to receive assistance. It's hoped that a second Trump administration would be more favorable to this policy, as the Biden administration hasn't approved work requirement expansions the way that Trump's administration did in his first term. |
| 24 | A private company has successfully landed the first American spacecraft on the Moon since 1972. |
| 16 |  DeSantis appears to backtrack some on Florida's law establishing a book-banning process, which he signed. |
| 41 |  Virtually all of Alex Jones’ bankruptcy creditors, including those from Sandy Hook, have agreed to a plan to liquidate all of Jones' assets leaving him with virtually nothing. |
| 41 |  
A non-binary student was beaten to death in a school bathroom after being forced to use the girls'. The school suspended the student for the incident and didn't call for medical attention. They died in hospital the next day. The district was previously targeted by Libs of TikTok. |
| 31 | Russian police shut down a My Little Pony fan convention to investigate claims that there was "LGBT propaganda" as well as "horror and darkness". For whatever reason, the police were ultimately unable to find evidence of LGBT propaganda or horror/darkness. |
| -14 | The Biden administration won't hold Israel to account for planned Rafah offensive that doesn't protect civilians. |
| 20 | Xitter decided to suspend Alexey Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya's newly launched account after only one day of launch. After an outcry, it was restored 45 minutes later. |
| 18 |  Martine Moïse, wife of former Haiti President Jovenel Moïse who was assasinated 3 years ago, has been indicted for his murder. |
| 13 |  The UN appalled by reports of sexual violence committed against Palestinian women by the IDF |
| -20 | Israel grants gas exploration license in areas considered to be within Palestine's maritime boundary |
| 26 |  Alabama Supreme Court rules that frozen embryos are 'children' after fertility clinic patient accidently drops embryos on the floor. The fertility clinic is being sued for "wrongful death" . |
| 33 |  Ukrainian forces withdrew from Avdiivka after a months-long Russian assault due to dwindling ammunition supplies, making this Russia's first major battlefield victory in months. President Biden blamed the stalling of US material aid due to Congressional inaction for Ukraine's defeat. |
| 32 | 
Georgia Republican senator Carden Summers knelt down to tell an 8-year-old girl he'd protect her. Then, after learning she was trans, backed away. |
| 17 |  Another day, another mass shooting: this time at a Super Bowl parade in Kansas City, Missouri. |
| 27 |  A transphobic woman has had her discrimination case against the National Women's Council of Ireland thrown out by a works tribunal after the organisation refused her entry to one of their meetings. |
| 33 | Trump fined $355 million and ordered to cease business in New York state for three years. |
| 25 | Piece of shit promotes AIDS denialism from delusional conman to an audience of millions. |
| 41 | Putin opposition leader Alexei Navalny dies in Russian prison. Reports claim he went for a walk, felt unwell and suddenly collapsed. |
| 32 | FBI informant who alleged the Bidens had taken money from Ukrainian energy company charged with lying to the FBI - "Smirnov, 43, was charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record." |
| 3 | After promising to make public healthcare data more accessible, Biden seems to be turning back on that promise. The newly proposed "reforms" will increase fees and decrease accessibility to "data used to support major healthcare reforms." |
| 40 | 
The Greek parliament has voted 176 to 76 to legalise same-sex marriage, becoming the 37th country to legalise equal marriage. It is also the 1st Orthodox Christian country to do so. |
| 5 | The UNRWA staff members accused by Israel of partaking in October 7th had been fired without due process, or as the head of the UNRWA said, "reverse due process." |
| 12 | "A Biden presidency is better than a Trump one", says Putin. |
| -2 | Israel sent a handcuffed Palestinian man into a Gaza hospital to order an evacuation, and then shot him as he left. |
| 29 | Ukraine says it has sunk another warship, disabling a third of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet |
| 16 |  The United Kingdom and Japan both entered a recession in the last quarter of 2023. Japan's recession means that Germany has now surpassed it and become the world's third-largest economy. |
| 19 |
Russian government investigating language-learning app Duolingo for sentences referencing gay people's existence. This apparently constitutes "distribution of LGBT propaganda". |
| 6 | Federal judge rejects many copyright claims against LLM AI companies, allows a claim about "unfair competition" to proceed. Subject to appeal within the next month. |
| 18 | Bodycam footage shows a Florida police deputy wildly firing seventeen rounds because he thought an acorn falling on a nearby vehicle was a gunshot. Somehow, neither the acorn nor the person being fired at (who was in handcuffs) were injured. The deputy has now resigned. |
| 30 | Cybertruck owners are reporting that their stainless steel shells are already starting to rust, only a few months after getting their pickups. |
| 31 |  Republican governor of Nebraska reverses course after meeting with students, will now take federal funding to feed schoolchildren during the summertime. Many states with Republican governors have rejected the funding so far. |
| 10 | Take #2! House of Representatives impeaches the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. Vote was 214-213. |
| -5 | Israeli Super Bowl ad sells Gaza war narrative to American audience. |
| 48 | Trump has said that he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries he views as not spending enough on their own defense. |
| 33 | Hungarian president Katalin Novák and justice minister Judit Varga have resigned over their decision to pardon a man convicted of helping cover up sex abuse at an orphanage. |
| 27 |  Despite the Pentagon claiming Tower 22, the base that was attacked in a recent drone strike in Jordan, was a "logistics" outpost, we now know it was actually a drone base. |
| 16 |  Indonesia's military is planning to install dictator Prabowo Subianto, no matter the results of the next election. |
| 7 | Netanyahu has ordered Palestinians to evacuate Rafah, the city all the way to the south of Gaza that he previously said would be a safe zone. |
| 24 |  
Vice reports that the UK government has quietly closed down the English NHS LGBTQ diversity programme, which notably gives out rainbow lanyards and badges to staff. |
| 28 | Sinn Féin wants a referendum on Irish reunification by 2030. |
| 18 | Tucker Carlson interviewed Vladimir Putin. It was generally a sycophantic interview, although Putin making fun of Tucker for wanting to join the CIA, with Tucker not even laughing and staring at him blankly, clearly upset, was funny. |
| 53 |
Biggest-ever study of trans Americans found that 94% of them are happier after social transition, and 98% are happier after physical transition. (PDF of the full "early insights" report here.) |
| 13 | Trump claims Jan. 6 was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi. |
| 17 | The US Special Counsel's report on Joe Biden's handling of classified materials paints a portrait of An ‘Elderly Man With a Poor Memory’ |
| 9 | President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy appoints Oleksandr Syrskyi as new Commander-in-Chief, replacing Zaluzhny. |
| 15 |  Former President of Chile Sebastián Piñera has died in a helicopter crash. |
| 7 | Right after the hottest year on record, Labour has ditched its £28 billion ($35 billion/€32 billion) green investment pledge. |
| 31 |  For the first time ever, global warming has surpassed 1.5°C for an entire year. |
| 26 | Alternative for Germany's youth wing discussed placing Jews in ghettos and immigrants and foreigners (Muslims, Africans, Arabs) in labor camps without much food. They also discussed overthrowing the government and seeking volunteers "to shoot women and children." |
| 17 |
Sunak asks Starmer the transphobic expression “What is a woman?”, despite knowing that murdered trans teen Brianna Ghey’s mother was sitting in the Visitors' Gallery during Prime Minister’s Questions. |
| 33 |  Connecticut will cancel medical debt for 250,000 of its residents by purchasing rights to the debt for pennies on the dollar and forgiving it. The funds to do so come from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. New Jersey, New York City, and other governments are reportedly looking at doing something similar. |
| 46 | Federal panel of judges rules that Trump does not have presidential immunity in January 6 case. |
| 22 | Jack Dorsey's Twitter clone Bluesky has scrapped its invite codes demands and it is now open to anyone to set up an account. |
| 34 |  Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer. |
| -2 | Hopes for Swedish accession to NATO have been dashed, after a Hungarian parliamentary vote didn't reach the quorum. |
| 40 |  Russia's frozen assets are generating billions in interest, and the EU intends to divert this money as part of its aid package to Ukraine. |
| 44 |  New Mexico man pleaded guilty to assisting a failed Republican candidate in committing drive-by shootings at Democrats' houses. |
| 25 | For the first time, an Irish nationalist will lead Northern Ireland's government. Northern Ireland's government resumes work after new deal, with symbolic shift placing the nationalist (pro-unification) leader first. |
| 15 | Florida's DeSantis government sues federal regulators over a rule preventing the state from removing a child's state health insurance for nonpayment. |
| 18 | The IDF claimed they found secret Hamas tunnels underneath a Gazan cemetery they destroyed. CNN discovered they lied. |
| 23 | Laurence Fox has lost his libel court case in which he was sued over calling two people paedophiles. The judge also ruled that it was not defamatory to call Fox a racist. He repeatedly defended racist statements as not racist throughout the case. |
| 33 | 2023 was the Republican National Committee's worst fundraising year since 2013. Adjusted for inflation, it was actually the worst since 1993. |
| -15 |  US military personnel in Iraq on standby for boots on the ground intervention in the Gaza war. |
| 37 | 
Bill that would have removed gender identity as a protected category from Iowa's civil rights law has been killed in subcommittee amid protest. |
| 54 | Some good news for Ukraine, Hungary finally caves and allows a €50 billion EU aid package for Ukraine to go through that Orbán previously threatened to veto. |