RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/May 2016

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May 2016[edit]

14

Subsidized rent, but nowhere to go.

18

Taxpayers wasted billions of dollars on a war on cocaine that didn’t work.

9

According to the WHO, nearly 960 people have been killed in attacks on hospitals in 2 years.

18

FBI wants to exempt its huge fingerprint and photo database from privacy protections.

9

Organization of American States is taking steps against Venezuela to defend democracy in the region.

15

New documents show that Chris Kyle lied about his military record.

11

An appeals court rules that cops can easily get months of location data.

13

Y Combinator announces a basic income pilot experiment in Oakland.

25

Donald Trump has already been endorsed by noted North Korean apologist Dennis Rodman, so Kim Jong-un himself doing the same was simply to be expected.

14

U.S. House rejects Rep. Barbara Lee's push to end war authorization.

15

Eric Holder now believes Edward Snowden performed a public service. (Autoplay video)

18

Further criminal injustice: Inmates in Texas are suing their prison in order to gain access to non-arsenic tainted water. Most sex offenders continue to be imprisoned even after their sentences end.

8

Congress is targeting military housing stipends, and it could cost troops thousands.

17

The refugee crisis: Another migrant boat has capsized of the coast of Libaya resulting in 700 deaths; one of the bodies recovered was that of an infant. (NSFW)The Italian navy was able save 145 migrants from another ship. Meanwhile, the UK is charging two men with "conspiracy to facilitate the entry of non-EU nationals" after 20 migrants were saved in the English Channel.

19

A promising sign? Israel's new defense minister says he backs two-state solution.

24

Amnesty International has called for an end to the "Nordic Model" of criminalizing sex workers.

18

Chadian dictator, Hissene Habre, has been convicted for war crimes.

13

Middle East refugees are helping Europe to prosecute war crimes. The UN has urged Greece to improve conditons for transferred refugees.

17

The French finance ministers warns that there will be more tax raids after the raid on Google.

23

The Ohio Senate has passed a bill legalizing medical marijuana.

15

Virtual assistants such as Amazon's Echo break US child privacy law.

15

Chapulines (Indigenous Mexicans) farm workers in California have unionized. Unfortunately, farm workers in Baja Mexico, who face a similar struggle, have seen very little reforms.

14

Global warming may be poisoning crops.

23

Court rules that companies cannot impose forced arbitration agreements on workers.

15

Portland officials didn't warn teachers, students of known lead contamination in the drinking water.

20

Mold in prisons is sickening guards and prisoners alike.

12

Michigan continues to target the homeless with new "aggressive" panhandling laws. In New York City the ACLU will sue the city for targeting people based on their housing status but the city has been using lights to watch lower income blacks for three hundred years.

13

US special forces have been ordered to remove all Kurdish insignias after Turkey loses its collective shit.

24

European leaders call for open access to all scientific papers by 2020.

14

The Great Recession has been linked to 500,000 cancer deaths.

18

As if anti-choice advocates couldn't make women's lives miserable enough, anti-choice groups can use smartphone surveillance to target ‘abortion-minded women’ during clinic visits.

15

Obama calls for the end of nuclear weapons, a year after he OK'd a trillion dollars being spent to upgrade America's nuclear missile program.

9

NYPD Commissioner: rappers are "basically thugs". You know "those people", they play their jungle music and start going ape! That's why you gotta rough 'em up, to keep 'em in line! Now where'd I put my Rolling Stones albums?

45

Famous ~~idiot~~ patriot Ammon Bundy is upset that he can't have his guns in jail. “My Second Amendment rights are being violated. I never waived that right." In other news, prisons aren't happy places.

27

KKK using transgender bathroom bill to recruit members in North Carolina.

14

A federal jury has concluded that Android's use of Java APIs is fair use.

22

America's failing justice system: A new Alabama law will punish juveniles with 30 years minimum for murder while less than 1% people arrested saw a lawyer after their arrest. In Atlanta, Georgia courts grant asylum at a lower rate than other city. Growing evidence shows that the Chicago PD has a "code of silence" when it comes to police misconduct.

16

According to HRW, Indonesia is using child labor to cultivate tobacco. This isn't the first time Big Tobacco has used child labor, the AFL-CIO caught them hiring contractors who were using child labor on on tobacco fields all across the South.

11

The Rohingya are still suffering in detention camps.

20

Two horrendous bills are being considered in Congress: One bill would require DNA samples from Americans whenever they sponsored family visas while the other would expand Gitmo by sending ISIL POWs to the camp.

16

An antibiotic resistant version of E-coli reached the US.

5

Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards has signed into law a "Blue Lives Matter" bill, the first in the US to designate public safety workers a protected class under hate crime law.

17

Baylor, a private Baptist university in Texas, has fired its president (Ken Starr) and head football coach after a finding that the school systematically failed to implement Title IX and created a culture in which student athletes felt they were not subject to the normal rules.

21

11 states are suing the federal government over the Obama Administration's trans bathroom rules.

9

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that over 400 civilians have been killed by US-led coalition airstrikes but Tony Blair says we should have a "proper ground war".

14

Amnesty International is urging EU members to halt sales of weapons to Egypt. HRW claims that South Sudanese soldiers are getting away with war crimes and urges the government to punish human rights violations.

6

Russia has freed Nadiya Savenchko and Azerbaijan has freed investigative journalist, Khadija Ismayilova.

28

A rock structure, built deep underground, is one of the earliest hominin constructions ever found.

11

Greek riot police have evicted 8,500 refugees from Idomeni.

14

Lesbian couple arrested in Honolulu for holding hands reach a $80K settlement with city.

8

Yet another court has found that the warrant used by the FBI in the Playpen child porn investigation is invalid.

20

Here we go again. South Carolina passes law banning abortions after 20 weeks.

8

In the US, primary physicians are increasingly prescribing antidepressants for, often unapproved, off-label use.

10

Adidas has returned shoe factories to Germany but with automated factories.

20

PEGIDA Bodensee (the PEGIDA outgrowth in Baden-Württemberg) got their panties in a wad about Kinder Schokolade having the childhood photos of German soccer stars of African and Middle Eastern descent on their UEFA Cup 2016 special edition chocolate bar packages.

16

Bill Cosby ordered to stand trial in 2004 sexual assault case.

15

Oklahoma's insane rush to execute.

-1

A US appeals court has ruled that Bank of America does not have to pay a $1.3 billion penalty assessed years ago.

6

PKK militants shoot down a Turkish helicopter using a Russian anti-air missile. Futher violence includes a bombing by the PKK that killed 6 Turkish soldiers.

11

~~Comrade~~ Obama wants to sell machine guns, tanks, missiles, and warships to Vietnam, where political dissidents are trampled upon as he visits the country.

13

Germany is running up against the limits of current renewable energy technologies, yet finds itself occasionally producing more power than it needs. This could prove a valuable lesson for other countries.

19

Another ranking member of the "family values" party arrested for molesting kids.

20

The plot thickens in Brazil's political corruption scandal, as leaked audio suggests President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment was a conspiracy to stop her investigation against Petrobas.

27

Timothy Tyrone Foster, a black man sentenced to death by an all white jury, has his case thrown out by the Supreme Court in a 7-1 decision because the prosecutors racially discriminated against black jury applicants. The lone dissenter was Clarence Thomas, who happens to be the only African-American in the Supreme Court.

28

How copyright law is being misused to remove material from the internet.

18

The new EPA rules on PFC levels in drinking water causes many communities to suddenly have dangerously contaminated water.

19

The UK is training soldiers from repressive regimes marked as human rights abusers on their watchlist.

7

Colorado's lack of regulations on marijuana dispensaries has created push back from low-income neighborhoods.

15

Another woman in Okinawa has been raped and murdered by a US soldier.

10

U.N. rights office urges Mexico to act over extrajudicial killings.

19

Parole boards are still refusing to parole prisoners who were sent to prison as juveniles despite the Supreme Court's ruling. San Francisco private-prison inmates will be allowed to sue their prison over their exposture to valley fever. 2 guards and a cook at Rikers have been arrested for smuggling drugs and weapons into the prison but the greater scandal is how common abuse of inmates occurs at Rikers. Though, Tom Cotton says we have an under-incarcerating problem.

17

How the Pentagon punished NSA whistleblowers.

16

Synthes, a bone cement company, is being accused of human experimentation.

11

The International Parliamentarians for West Papua has signed a new declaration calling on the UN to supervise an independence vote for West Papua. Jeremy Corbyn joins them and recommends an independence vote.

20

Trinity Academy in Kansas threatens to expel students if they have a gay family member,

14

Iranian women cut off their hair and dress as men to avoid morality police.

11

American bison is named US's national mammal (great pics!).

11

Kazakh police break up anti-government protests.

11

The US-led coalition warns civilians to flee Raqqa as it will soon be bombed. The coalition has rejected Russia's proposal of joint strikes.

15

Trump-loving comment trolls pose as Sanders and Clinton supporters to divide Democrats.

10

Top 25 hedge fund managers earned $13bn in 2015.

19

HRW has found that the military is branding rape victims with "personality disorders" and pushing them out. (The full 124 page report.)

12

Pfizer's refusal to sell drugs used for capital punishment highlights the black market for execution drugs.

16

African Americans are twice as likely to be arrested for using marijuana in Colorado and Washington, even though it is legal.

9

Indiana's Attorney General has blocked universities from using fetal tissue for Alzheimer's research. This type of action can only help other US states and other nations with less restriftive laws get ahead of indiana in research.

15

Oil company records from 1960s reveal patents to reduce CO2 emissions in cars.

13

Cop sued for drawing gun on man filming him.

5

Victoria, Australia is considering forcing drivers to use breathalysers in order to leave public car parks.

-2

Why women earn less: family and choice of doctoral field explain post-PhD pay gap.

10

Obama signs a bill that strikes the racial terms "negro" and "oriental" from federal law.

19

In a case of "why the hell wasn't this already happening", female pilots from WWII will be allowed to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

11

Another African American woman has died in police custody.

20

When scientists look at climate change data, but aren't told it's climate change data, they agree with climate change.

13

Congress is using a bill that would help fight Zika to deregulate the trucking industry. It will allow truckers to stay on the road for more than 80 hours a week.

3

Iraqi protests in the Green Zone result in violence and death.

9

The Obama Administration is proposing a rule that will bar foreign students from participating in certain research projects and classes in order to prevent intellectual property theft.

9

How Big Pharma uses charity programs to cover for drug price hikes.

14

Probiotics are a waste of money for healthy adults.

10

The FDA has approved of a new and more accurate nutrient facts label. Thanks, Michelle Obama!

18

Handcuffed man is tased to death by police in Georgia. Before he dies he says "I'm dead" and "I quit" VIDEO.

12

Israeli defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, has resigned citing racism and extremism in Israel. Update:Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak says Israel has been "infected by the seeds of fascism."

7

A federal judge just ordered a dox of 100,000 innocent people.

26

The US House unanimously approves of a bill that will extend protections to atheists as well as define restrictions on ritual slaughter and circumcision as violations of religious liberty.

10

American Airlines, along with other travel companies, are angry with the airport waiting lines. They blame the TSA's understaffing while Homeland Security blames it on baggage fees.

15

The Zika virus has spread to Africa from the Americas. The CDC confirms that 279 pregnant in America have Zika.

24

Oklahoma legislature passes an unconstitutional law that makes providing an abortion a felony, now awaiting Gov. Mary Fallin's signature or veto. Update: Vetoed.

16

House Democrats shamed House Republicans for voting against an LGBT anti-discrimnation bill.

9

Racist ex-Trump delegate decodes ‘Make America Great Again’: White men wish it was still 1955

12

Trump SCOTUS pick William Pryor would have let states jail LGBT people for having sex in their homes

8

‘Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe’: Closer to horror film than documentary

12

Multiple strikes take place as France considers weakening the labor laws. So far the rail and port workers, air traffic controllers, and oil workers will go on strike.

14

Did Bernie supporters throw chairs at Nevada as claimed by multiple media outlets and celebrities? Snopes evaluates the claim and determines there's no evidence to support this assertion.

22

Edward Snowden: "CIA never destroys something by mistake."

9

Top judges rule identities of 'PJS' and 'YMA' must remain secret

15

Survival rates from advanced melanoma has increased to 40%.

16

Louisiana Republican Kenneth Havard looks out for you with a bill amendment setting the maximum weight for strippers at 168lb.

10

An EgyptAir airplane is missing, terrorism is suspected.

23

The average American CEO makes 335 times more than their average workers' salary.

6

Pope Francis condemns bloodsuckers who exploit the poor.

19

Half ot the money that is being to oppose the CA ballot measure to legalize marijuana is coming from police and prison guard groups.

12

Koch Industries held an event criticising the US's foreign policy.

10

Several world leaders, civil rights activists, members of the US Congress, and Amnesty International have signed a 44 page petition asking Obama to grant Clemency to Leonard Peltier.

-5

Congress stops medical marijuana research in its tracks.

19

Obama has signed an executive order that will extend overtime protections to millions of additional workers.

23

Schools in Bolivar County, Mississippi are finally desegregated.

11

Mitsubishi's president has resigned over the company's fuel scandal.

9

The hacktivist, Phineas Phisher, has stolen €10 thousands in Bitcoin and sent it to the Kurds in Rojava.

14

The LinkedIn hack was bigger than originally estimated.

11

Pope Francis criticizes the West's failure to integrate the refugees. He has said that Christianity and Islam have conquest in their souls.

7

HRW urges Jordan to ease travel restrictions on Palestinians from Gaza.

8

An arms raid in Capagh Forest, Northern Ireland is the biggest in years.

4

Employees with criminal records may be better workers.

8

A fake bomb, a would-be terrorist, and an FBI sting.

17

A Bangladeshi professor was mistaken for an atheist because he loved music, and was hacked to death.

8

At least 77 people, mostly Shia, were killed and more than 140 wounded by three bombings in Baghdad. Sadr's militias have deployed in various parts of the city.

17

Egypt has sentenced 152 people to prison for protesting.

35

Creationists were so eager to get evolution denial materials into Youngstown, Ohio, public high schools that they didn't pause long enough to notice that the video and other materials they chose to deliver their message are "from an Islamic, Holocaust-denying group accused of being a sex cult," namely Harun Yahya

10

The US Senate passes a bill that will allow the families of victims of the 9/11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for damages.

12

Kenyan election protests turn violent and police have cracked down on them. Kenya will launch an inquiry on possible police brutality.

25

The ADL has finally recognized the Armenian genocide.

15

Congressional candidate Mike Webb explains why he was browsing porn.

15

FBI has been harassing a Tor developer since 2015.

14

FBI hid surveillance devices around Alameda County Courthouse.

13

Erdoğan seeks injunction against German media chief who laughed at poem.

11

The Intercept has released SID Today which consists of newsletters from the Snowden Archive. They cover the NSA's leaks over 9 years starting from 2003.

21

CIA inspector general's office accidentally destroyed its only copy of the full Senate torture report.

15

Ken Ham decries the secular Reason Rally as an anti-God worship site

22

Copacabullshit: Brazilian President Michel Temer's newly appointed cabinet (which is the first to have no women in decades) includes a Creationist pastor as Science and Communications Minister, and an Amazon-deforesting soybean tycoon as Environmental Minister.

21

April breaks global temperatures; if this trend continues, 2016 will become the hottest year ever recorded.

17

Kenya is shutting down all of its refugee camps leading to a mass exodus of 600,000 people.

18

The US Army is fearmongering about Russia in order to increase its budget.

5

The World Food Programme warns that funding shortfalls will cause it to halt operations in Yemen.

5

Obama has now been at war longer than any other American president.

7

A CIA tip-off led to Nelson Mandela's arrest.

10

The UN committee on torture warns "of excessive use of force, including lethal force" by Israeli security forces. (The report itself.)

5

Alabama becomes the sixth state to ban the plant-based drug Kratom.

6

U.S. court rejects bid to make the full Senate torture report public. (The court's full opinion.)

13

Mozilla is suing the FBI in order to fix any possible security flaws that were exploited during the recent Tor hacking.

23

Another anti-gay preacher arrested for... you guessed it: possession of child porn.

17

Congress is suddenly interested in cold fusion.

9

Linksys WRT routers won’t block open source firmware despite FCC rules.

13

The FBI is keeping 80,000 secret files on the Saudis and 9/11.

11

The FBI can't confirm whether they have wiretapped Amazon Echo but, at least, the TSA chief says they will no longer punish whistleblowers.

10

Puerto Rican students are fighting against further austerity measures being instituted in order to pay for the island's debt.

7

Civil rights activist seek racial justice for historical murders.

10

Obama unveils the National Microbiome Intiative.

9

Orange County prosecuters have covered up rampant misuse of jailhouse informants but the high cost of justice in the US is screwing the poor even more.

21

Denmark will no longer define transgender people as mentally ill.

11

Dilma Rousseff has been suspended and replaced by Michel Temer, a corrupt neoliberal. He has replaced the entire cabinet with white males.

28

Obama has allowed the EPA to regulate methane gas emissions released from fracking and directed public schools to allow trans students to use the restrooms they feel matches their gender identity.

17

More than 80% of people living in urban areas that monitor air quality are exposed to pollution levels that exceed WHO limits.

13

CDC secretly sanctioned multiple times for mishandling bioterror pathogens.

8

Uganda, an ICC member, failed to arrest Omar Bashir, Sudan's genocidal leader.

14

One of Shell's offshore oil rigs has leaked 90,000 gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

10

Camp 7, the camp at Gitmo used for torture, may be opened to a UN watchdog.

12

Recently declassified documents detail 9/11 commission's inquiry into Saudi Arabia. These are not the 28 pages from the 9/11 commission but according to John F. Lehman, a Republican on the commission, Saudi officials were supporting the hijackers.

12

The Obama administration is planning new ICE raids in order to deport Central Americans.

9

Resettling the first American climate refugees.

16

State Department fails to vet or monitor military aid to Egypt.

32

US poultry workers have to wear diapers because they are being denied bathroom breaks.

31

Birth control, not prohibition of abortion, lowers abortion rates according to a WHO study.

14

Michael Ratner, the head of the Center of Constitutional Rights and civil liberties lawyer who helped prisoners in Gitmo, has died.

13

The explosion at a West, Texas fertilizer plant which killed 15 and injured 300 has been declared a deliberate "criminal act" and the ATF is offering $50,000 to anyone with information on the person who may be responsible for instigating the explosion.

30

"At his detention hearing, Bryan further admitted to authoring an ad that ran twice in the Thrifty Nickel last year seeking a $23 million loan to raise a Christian army to overthrow the U.S. government"

25

More than 100 United Methodist clergy have come out as LGBT.

25

Arkansas judge resigns after allegations that he offered young men reduced sentences in exchange for sexual favors.

14

NCA's bid to get Lauri Love US hack case passwords thrown out.

22

Alabama's inmates have gone on strike over unpaid labor and prison conditions. They are accusing the prison's staff of starving them in order to break the strike.

17

GPS tracking devices have caught major US recyclers exporting e-waste.

9

Our fictional pundit predicted more correct primary results than Nate Silver did.

15

One of Donald Trump's nominees is an open, politically active white supremacist

16

Energy Catalyzer "inventor" Andrea Rossi sues a U.S. company that partnered with him. The company claims they tried for over three years to reproduce Rossi's claimed results and were unable to, while Rossi claims it's all lies and they're trying to stiff him.

21

NASA announces confirmed discovery of 1,284 exoplanets by the Kepler Space Telescope.

20

Health Care Denied: The ACLU has compiled a report on Catholic hospitals refusal to provide reproductive healthcare even in emergencies.

21

The ACLU is suing Mississippi over its law that allows county clerks to deny giving same-sex couples marriage licenses if they have "religious objections".

21

A new Utah law will require abortion doctors to endanger and lie to their patients.

16

Lèse-liberté: Mother of a Thai activist arrested under continued ramped-up post-coup prosecution of Lèse-majesté violations, ostensibly for a two-letter "yeah" message sent in private on Facebook.

2

Obama will visit Hiroshima.

29

U.S. official admits employees have an “unbelievable” amount of child pornography on their computers.

29

The DOJ is suing North Carolina in order to block its anti-trans bathroom bill.

32

World hunger is at its lowest point in at least 25 years.

19

Panama Papers include dozens of Americans tied to financial frauds.

22

Verit-oops: Harvard announces that students who join "unrecognized single-gender organizations" will not be eligible for leadership positions in recognized student groups, including sports teams, or be recommended for prestigious academic awards and scholarships. National fraternities and sororities are calling foul and all-female student groups are saying this throws them under the bus.

16

The Boston Globe uncovers widespread sexual abuse among New England's boarding schools.

21

Americans are using dangerous synthetic marijuana in order to avoid failing drug tests.

14

A lawsuit against the US federal government is attempting to declassify FBI documents on Terry Norman. He was a student and FBI informant at Kent State when the shooting occurred.

15

Leaked TTIP documents show that the US is attempting to lower or circumvent EU environmental and public health laws.

21

More than 300 economists are urging world governments to recognize that tax havens have no economic benefit.

16

The ICIJ has created a searchable archive for the Panama Papers.

11

Afghanistan is losing its local press corps as Afghans flee from the increasing violence.

15

Obama will designate the Stonewall Inn as a national monument.

21

Arkansas Court of Appeals orders a man to forfeit $20,000 without charging him with a crime.

14

60 minutes looks into man-made earthquakes in Oklahoma.

13

Greece adopts tax overhaul amid austerity protests.

13

The Food and Drug Administration will regulate e-cigs under the same federal regulations as regular cigarettes. This includes banning the sale of e-cigs to minors.

16

Pakistani human rights activist, Khurram Zaki, has been killed.

17

The Pentagon admits to deploying US troops to Yemen in order to "assist" Yemen's troops.

20

Alabama passes a bill to regulate abortion clinics like sex offenders.

23

A senior Saudi cleric says that homosexuality shouldn't be punished.

19

Congress wastes $1.4 billion on promoting abstinence, fidelity for HIV prevention.

19

One Arizona county will send underage drug mules to adult prison. US prisons are ending in person visitation and replaced it with unreliable, expensive video visitation.

13

Oxford, Alabama has rescinded its anti-trans bathroom ordinance while North Carolina Republicans will defy the Feds and continue to enforce their anti-trans ordinance.

15

Egypt sentences six people to death in an espionage case. This includes two Al Jazeera journalists.

38

Economist removed from plane for algebra.

19

Doctors Without Borders has pulled out of the World Humanitarian Summit. (Autoplay video) They accuse members of the UN of ignoring systemic violations of international humanitarian law in combat zones.

15

Scott Walker implements backdoor way to drug test people for unemployment benefits.

16

The whistleblower who leaked the Panama Papers is offering documents to various governments and hints at further revelations.

12

A university college in Spain has a compulsory course in Exorcism - funded by the Defence Ministry.

19

Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission suspends Chief Justice Roy Moore, with the possibility of full removal.

21

FBI told local cops to recreate evidence (using other known sources, a la Ultra) from secret cellphone trackers.

23

The NERC has announced that the name of their new research vessel will be the RSS ~~Boaty McBoatface~~ David Attenborough. (But they've named the ship's onboard ROV submarine "Boaty McBoatface", so not all is lost)

11

China bans suggestive banana eating in live streams

11

Hundreds of environmentalists invade the UK's largest coal mine

10

Israel bombs Gaza after rockets are fired at Israel. Israel has also destroyed tunnels Hamas has dug under its border.

12

The EPA is being sued by a coalition of environmental groups for not updating their fracking rules.

21

Turkey's prime minister has resigned.

22

Lawmakers in Missouri have passed a Voter ID law that could disenfranchise 220,000 people.