RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/July 2023

July 2023[edit]

11

Here we go again: Kosovo designates two Serb groups in the North as "terrorist groups" amid rising tensions with the Serb minority (from June)

16

The Taliban begins confiscating musical instruments and burning them in bonfires, claiming that music is "immoral". Music was banned during previous Taliban rule over two decades ago.

12

Other nations have threatened sanctions against Niger if they don't release Bazoum and his family and end the coup. These sanctions would be catastrophic for the incredibly poor nation. Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner boss, has offered to send Wagner members to assist with the coup.

31

Discrimination against queer people in Bulgaria becomes illegal.

22

Ukrainian-organized peace summit will be hosted by Saudi Arabia. Russia is not invited, and it instead appears to be an effort to gain support for Ukraine among developing countries.

23

British climate change deniers advance into weather denial.

37

Organizers of the Miss Italy contest bar entry to trans women by declaring it's for "women from birth" only. Since they didn't say that people born female who transitioned to male couldn't take part, trans men are exploiting that loophole and over 100 have entered in protest.

29

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill banning city ordinances that mandate water breaks for construction workers. The week after, the state capital saw an unprecedented, 11-day streak of temperatures reaching 105 degrees or more.

21

Coup attempt in Niger. Presidential guard detained the democratically elected leader President Mohamed Bazoum and surrounded the presidential palace. Bazoum is from the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism. A previous coup attempt was thwarted in 2021, two days before his inauguration. Update: Soldiers appear on TV & declare the president has been removed, national curfew instated, borders closed, all republican institutions suspended.

20

Sanctioned Russian spyware billionaire Anton Cherepennikov found dead from self-administered "medical gas". Reportedly weird and dangerous alternative medicine treatments are popular among the Russian elite for stress and anxiety relief since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, causing multiple deaths.

0

Sinead O'Connor (also known as Shuhada Sadaqat), famous for her protest against the Catholic church, dead at 56.

19

Moldova expels Russian diplomats and embassy staff "over numerous unfriendly actions".

22

Morgan Stanley upgrades economic growth for the US this year, crediting "Bidenomics" & particularly the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Most Americans still disapprove of Biden's economic performance (37%-58% split). Meanwhile, Insider reports that income inequality dropped in the US as wages grew.

19

A controversial new study warns that the crucial Atlantic Meridional Ocean Current (AMOC), including the Gulf Stream, may collapse sometime between 2025 and 2095 due to anthropogenic climate change. This could lead to plunging temperatures, collapsing ocean ecosystems, and increased storms worldwide. Some experts caution about uncertainties in the study's findings; the researchers plan to update their model with recent data to refine their predictions.

21

A majority of Americans support the government restricting "false information" online. An even larger majority support restrictions on "extremely violent" content. Even when it was stipulated that this would also restrict "freedom of information".

-3

Florida will use conservative PragerU videos as "educational curriculum" in public schools. PragerU stated: "schools have been hijacked by the left, they have been politicized, they have been used by union bosses".

-2

Israeli parliament passes Bibi's controversial judicial reform bill.

36

Police brutality in action: video shows thuggish cop beating the shit out of a trans man at a traffic stop.

34

Childhood vaccination rates (tetanus, measles, etc) dropped during COVID. Now, they are rebounding modestly.

63

Belgium bans conversion therapy.

54

South African government commits to arresting Vladimir Putin if he sets foot in country, per International Criminal Court obligations. A warrant for his arrest is to be issued. Putin decided not to attend the BRICS summit in South Africa in August, anticipating this.

18

Putin: Poland must be "reminded" that their land was "gifted" to them by Russia. He has also said in recent days that any "aggression" by Poland against Belarus is to be treated as an attack on Russia, and that Poland may be plotting to seize territory in western Ukraine.

19

Russia has arrested Igor Girkin, a former battlefield commander of its proxy forces in east Ukraine who was convicted by a Dutch court of ordering Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shot down (causing 298 fatalities). He was charged with "extremism" for allegedly calling for Putin's downfall and criticizing Russia's military incompetence.

32

Michigan's "fake electors"—who illegally declared themselves the state's electors—are finally being charged.

-5

As part of a new curriculum on teaching about slavery, Florida schools will now have to teach children that black people gained beneficial skills while enslaved.

20

Four Floridians convicted for selling an industrial bleaching agent through their online church as a miracle cure for "95% of known diseases", including COVID-19, Alzheimer's, autism, brain cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and leukemia. See: Miracle Mineral Solution.

15

New anti-LGBT bill set to be tabled in Kenyan parliament. It would "see a total ban on any activities 'that promote homosexuality', such as wearing flags or emblems of the LGBTQ community. Kenya already criminalises same-sex acts with penalties of up to 14 years in prison."

22

Jamaica has refused to accredit the spouse of a gay American diplomat. In retaliation, the U.S. is sending three U.S.-based Jamaican diplomats home.

17

Tennis ball-sized hail pounds Italy, injuring more than 100 people. Hope you're all ready for the future, folks.

27

Scientific racist and scientific fraud Doctor-and-not-Professor Richard Lynn is dead, announced in a tweet from his far-right conspiracist friend Edward Dutton. Only the good die young, so Lynn was 93. With due consideration and sensitivity to those who loved Dr-and-not-Professor Lynn, let us all solemnly declare: "RIP in piss bozo lol."

18

Xi Jinping hails "old friend", Henry Kissinger, at meeting. In case you hadn't heard that Kissinger is still alive. And 100 years old.

16

The head of the Belarusian Red Cross, Dzmitry Shautsou has admitted on Belarusian TV that the organisation has deported Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine into Belarus. This action is in fact a war crime under international law, and subsequently Ukraine's foreign minister has called for the International Criminal Court to put him under an arrest warrant.

16

Iraq expels Sweden's ambassador after an Iraqi refugee desecrated the Quran in Stockholm. This followed the storming of and arson in Sweden's embassy in Iraq (the 2^nd such storming recently), after which Iraq threatened to cut diplomatic ties with Sweden if the planned Quran burning the storming protested proceeded. Iraq now forbids all trade with Swedish companies.

26

Putin will not be attending a BRICS nations summit in South Africa this August, presumably because they would be required by international law to arrest him.

9

Italy begins stripping parental rights from lesbian mothers. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni claims she is somehow not homophobic however but simply opposed to "gender ideology" and "LGBT lobbies".

31

Astronomers have discovered a star where one side is composed almost entirely of hydrogen and the other side made up of helium.

19

The Washington, DC city government entered into a contract with a convicted felon who hawks a device that that claims to break the laws of physics to improve the battery life of electric vehicles

22

A Florida family that allegedly formed a faux church called the "Church of Bleach" and made over US$1 million by falsely selling toxic industrial bleach as a miracle cure for HIV, cancer, COVID-19, and other diseases is now standing trial in Miami

18

Rishi Sunak is likely going to have to delay his plan to force schools to out trans students to their parents and ban them from socially transitioning, as well as using preferred pronouns and names if the parents don't consent to their kids doing so, because it likely violates the Equality Act.

4

Rishi Sunak apologizes to LGBT veterans for their past mistreatment. It was illegal to be gay in the British armed forces until 2000.

26

Greg Abbott has enforced razor wire installation into the Rio Grande on the Mexico-Texas border, and has ordered state troopers to push small children and babies back into the river, as well as deny people trying to cross any water. The White House has condemned this action. Mexico has officially filed diplomatic complaints stating that this action is a violation of a 1944 water treaty.

25

Collapse of Black Sea grain deal poses a massive threat: “Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative will worsen food insecurity and harm millions of vulnerable people around the world." Russia's then made their view of resuming the deal clear by attacking the grain storage infrastructure at Odesa and Chornomorsk with missiles.

25

China is entering an era of much slower economic growth, raising a daunting prospect: it may never get rich.

19

Australian state of Victoria pulls out of hosting the '26 Commonwealth Games, citing the ballooning costs becoming 'well and truly too much' to bear. Like with the Olympics, it is becoming worryingly difficult to find willing hosts due to said costs.

23

Explosive strikes have hit the Crimea bridge, which is a key route for supplying the Russian army currently invading Ukraine. Traffic has come to a complete halt.

23

Extremist-friendly tech company LBRY closes after a fine of $111,000+ for securities fraud. Their associated cryptocurrency LBRY crashed to 1/3000^th of a cent. The company's founder is a paleolibertarian and part of the Free State Project.

27

Benjamin Netanyahu has been hospitalised for dehydration amid Israel's heatwave.

40

The Wall Street Journal has reported that last year, Tesla launched an internal investigation against its CEO, Elon Musk. Why? Purportedly, for using millions of dollars in company funds to build a literal glass house for himself. Yes, really.

32

Inflation plunges across the United States. Not in Florida though. Two months ago, one farming CEO presciently warned that Florida's anti-immigration bill would result in higher grocery prices; Florida's service, construction and agriculture industries relied heavily on immigrant labor.

8

Following last months riots, France bans the sale, possession and transportation of all fireworks ahead of the Bastille Day national holiday.

8

Hungarian bookseller fined 12 million forints (£27,428/$35,916) for selling a book about two gay people in a section where under-18s could see it.

18

All forms of sex- and/or gender-changing banned in Russia. Trans people are also to be banned from adoption, and their marriages may be annulled on account of their trans status. An exception allows genital sex changes for children with intersex conditions.

11

Thousands of Ukraine civilians are being held in Russian prisons. Russia plans to build many more

6

Italian judge rules that groping someone for fewer than 10 seconds doesn't count as sexual assault.

15

The North Atlantic Fellas Organization, an informal pro-Ukrainian trolling network of shiba inu dog memes, has been awarded the Star of Lithuanian Diplomacy medal by the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry.

17

Climate breakdown is causing an increase in plankton, which is in turn turning the world's ocean water greener. It's not entirely clear if this within itself is bad yet.

23

Disney's CEO, Bob Iger, says the currently-striking actors and writers are "not being realistic" with their demands. Keep in mind he makes over $10 million every year, and could potentially earn $27 million this year.

14

A brawl erupts in Kosovo's parliament after someone in opposition to the elections being redone throws water over the PM.

19

Senior civil servants have leaked to Vice News a proposed redrafted policy document on trans people, which would effectively institutionalise transphobia in the Civil Service. This includes only allowing trans people with a GRC to use single-sex facilities and use the phrase “adult human female” to describe women.

28

Obviously-climate change-caused irregular weather in India has decimated crops and forced tomato prices up by 400%. People there are struggling with affording food.

32

Huge phosphate rock deposits discovered in Norway could satisfy global demand for fertilizers and electric vehicles for the next 50 years.

21

Erdoğan has agreed to back Sweden's NATO bid. Unfortunately, the Islamist dictatorship now gets to bully Sweden into proposing religious exemptions to free speech just to keep their chances of getting let in up.

16

Pro-Trump Republican Ryan Walters, Oklahoma's state superintendent of public instruction, said teachers should avoid saying that "skin color" was the central factor behind the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Walters had previously railed against "woke ideology" and "critical race theory".

24

Dutch model Rikkie Kollé has won the 2023 Miss Nederland pageant, making her the first trans woman to have won a national beauty contest. She will now head to the Miss Universe pageant.

45

In another incredible win for midwestern Democrats, the Wisconsin governor, Tony Evers, used the power of the Frankenstein veto to cut a sentence in half to change the bill from increasing school funding until 2025, to make it increase school funding for the next 400 years. To quote the linked AP article: "Gov. Tony Evers struck a hyphen and “20” to change the end date for a $325 per-student spending increase from 2025 to 2425." To quote the linked Wikipedia article: "it was changed from "for the 2023–2024 school year and the 2024–2025 school year" into "for 2023–2425" ("for ~~the~~ 2023–~~2024 school year and the 20~~24~~–20~~25 ~~school year~~")"

21

Dutch government reportedly collapses after failure to reach agreement on asylum measures

42