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

October 2023[edit]

-12

Former head of Wikimedia Foundation and Signal Katherine Maher has become CEO of Web Summit replacing Paddy Cosgrove, after he resigned for posting inflammatory comments on the current Hamas-Israeli conflict on Twitter.

22

Israel just bombed the largest and most densely-packed refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. We don't know the exact number, but we know a lot have died.

28

The FBI has reported that thousands of IT workers have, for years, secretly sent their wages to North Korea, totalling to millions of dollars given.

17

Hamas has a hoard of supplies, can potentially sustain fighting for three to four months without any resupply.

12

Trans woman Eli Rubashkyn, who threw tomato juice at transphobe Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull at the Let Women Speak rally in Auckland back in March, has been charged and faces court for assault.

18

Lewiston, ME mass shooting suspect found to have committed suicide.

30

Half of Israelis say "it would be better to wait" to invade Gaza. 29% percent say invade immediately. 22% were undecided. (It is not apparent that the poll had any "do not invade" option.) Just last week, a full 65% wanted an invasion. It goes to show just how quickly support for a war can erode.

-2

The United Kingdom Online Safety Act becomes law, despite containing an unenforceable provision that outlaws encryption

20

Forty-one states are suing Meta, alleging that Instagram and Facebook are harmful and addictive for children.

25

Ron DeSantis has banned a pro-Palestine student group, Students for Justice in Palestine, from Florida campuses.

17

Rep. Jamaal Bowman has been criminally charged for pulling the fire alarm in the Capitol a few weeks back.

16

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has, at least temporarily, blocked Idaho's trans bathroom ban.

21

Sure it is not a cult: Musk has told all employees in 𝕏 to switch all their financial accounts from their normal banking to his platform by the end of 2024.

17

A Gallup poll found that Biden's approval rating among Democrats has dropped to a record-low of 75%, and that Democrats now sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis for the first time in the survey's two-decade history.

28

Texas GOP scandalized after links to neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes and his community, which were kept secret, are revealed. The leader of Defend Texas Liberty, a major PAC in the state that gives millions to top candidates, hosted Fuentes for a seven hour meeting. The PAC has since replaced their leader. Now, it's revealed the leader of Texans for Strong Borders is a prominent Fuentes fan through his online pseudonym.

10

What we know about the Lewiston, ME mass shooting suspect.

19

Roosters might recognize themselves in the mirror.

31

Good riddance: Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue, the one that spawned the Unite the Right rally in 2017, has met its end, in a 2,250-degree furnace.

19

A currently unnamed "leading Conservative MP" has been arrested over suspicion of rape and possession of drugs. Update: The MP identified himself as Crispin Blunt, and denies wrongdoing.

19

A shooting takes place in a bowling alley and a restaurant in Lewiston, Maine. There could be as many as 22 deaths. A manhunt is underway for the shooter, who is still at large but has been identified.

43

A mother reported her son missing in March. Police kept the truth from her for months: A Mississippi mother spent 172 days searching for her adult son, only to learn that he was dead all along. An off-duty officer ran him over less than an hour after he left the house. Authorities buried him without notifying his family.

-22

Far-right Rep. Mike Johnson is voted in as the new Speaker of the House.

16

Amazon trials "humanoid" robots in warehouses.

19

Israel demands that the secretary general of the U.N. resign over comments about Israel not being completely in the right. They will now refuse visas to U.N. officials.

11

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has asked Qatar, Al Jazeera's funder, to make Al Jazeera "tone down" their rhetoric relating to Israel-Palestine happenings.

46

Japan's Supreme Court has ruled—unanimously, no less—that the law that required surgery to change your legal gender was unconstitutional. A large health hurdle for Japanese trans people has now been demolished.

20

The government in Spain is thinking about a French-style short internal flight ban on routes that can be done by rail in less than three-and-half hours, such as from Madrid to Barcelona or Valencia.

15

Jenna Ellis is the fourth Trump co-defendant to plead guilty in the Georgia RICO case.

14

Mark Meadows tells Jack Smith and his legal team that he doesn't believe the 2020 election was stolen, despite writing a book about it.

27

Rural Texas counties ban women from driving on highways to obtain abortions. Does this violate the Commerce Clause? Probably! How do they intend to get around that? By labeling abortions as "abortion trafficking", as in human trafficking. Will that actually work? Probably not.

23

The Catholic bishop of the city of Sosnowiec in Poland Grzegorz Kaszak has resigned, after a scandal involving a “sex party” in the bishop's flat which included a group of priests with a male prostitute came to light.

18

Hamas has released 4 hostages.

19

The Royal Navy is ending its century-old racist tradition of having Chinese servants on warships amid a Yellow Peril hysteria

14

New party prepared to form in German parliament. Sahra Wagenknecht, a leader in The Left, will likely form a splinter party that is economically socialist and socially right-wing; they are also against sending Ukraine military aid. The Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht apparently has ten MPs.

15

Federal prosecutors won't prosecute Border Patrol agent who fatally shot the unarmed Raymond Mattia just steps outside his home, a Tohono O’odham man, sparking outrage from the Tohono O’odham people.

26

Erdoğan has done a surprising U-turn and has granted presidential authority to Sweden's NATO application. The vote is heading to the Turkish parliament for authorisation. It would mean that Hungary would be the last one out.

16

War could last "months", and will be "the last war in Gaza, for the simple reason that there will be no more Hamas", Israel's defense minister claims.

14

Israel's education ministry decides it's time to unperson climate activist Greta Thunberg. Although the article claims she "supported Hamas", her post didn't mention Hamas (or their early-October incursion) at all, which was actually a signature complaint towards her by Israel supporters.

24

Transphobe-in-chief Graham Linehan's new book Tough Crowd is looking like a flop, after its fails to reach to the top 1000 of Amazon's bestseller list. Gossip site Popbitch and BookScan data both claim that only 390 copies were actually sold. Tough crowd indeed...

26

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's has raised Greece's economic rating from BB+ (low) to BBB-/A-3 (stable) citing improvements in the country's economy, a rating it hasn't seen since 2010.

21

GOP's temporary Speaker of the House threatens to quit. Also Jim Jordan lost a third vote, but that's to be expected.

20

Kenneth Chesebro is the second Trump lawyer to plead guilty in the RICO case.

14

Six year old Palestinian boy stabbed to death in Chicago for being Muslim

-25

U2 – a group that constantly preaches about peace and nonviolence – is now tangled up with a bank profiting from Israel’s violations of international law.

15

US conducts "a high-explosive experiment at a nuclear test site in Nevada just hours after Russia revoked a ban on atomic-weapons testing". It is not clear that this was a nuclear test, despite the headlines on the event.

20

Ukraine set to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over alleged links to Russia. The church, a division of Eastern Orthodoxy, claims to have cut ties to Moscow. [Please note this is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, not the Orthodox Church of Ukraine]

16

Two Swedes shot dead in Brussels and a third wounded on the 16th by ISIS terrorist who had previously been in prison in Sweden. Belgian police later shot him dead.

36

Alex Jones must pay $1.1 billion in defamation damages to Sandy Hook families despite declaring bankruptcy.

22

A bill that would have prevented US humanitarian aid to Gaza has been blocked by none other than Bernie Sanders.

28

US sanctions on Venezuelan oil, gas, and gold have been eased in exchange for freer elections and the release of political prisoners. Venezuela is given until the end of November to begin compliance with the deal, though it seems they already have begun, since five opposition leaders were released nigh immediately.

13

US Navy warship shoots down missiles and drones from Yemen that were heading "potentially towards Israel". An American garrison in southern Syria were also targeted by drones the day before.

24

The late Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi left a mostly worthless, massive collection of paintings to his heirs. The collection costs €800,000/year to maintain: tackiness from beyond the grave.

26

Sidney Powell pleaded guilty in the RICO case in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors.

16

When asked about the Conservative Party’s Tamworth candidate suggesting that unemployed parents struggling to feed their children should “fuck off”, Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson says the comments show that “unlike Labour we are a party that believes in work”. Ladies and gentlemen of the UK, your elected representatives.

20

According to Business Insider, Musk is considering removing the ability of Europeans to use Twitter/X, because of disinformation requirements demanded under the Digital Service Act.

9

Molotov cocktails thrown at Berlin synagogue in early-morning attack.

19

Jim Jordan loses second vote for House Speaker, this time with 22 Republicans voting against him.

22

Russia withdraws a thousand ruble bill after Orthodox priests complain that a depiction of the Kazan Kremlin printed on it shows an Orthodox church, the Cathedral of the Annunciation, without a cross and a mosque, the Kul Sharif, with an Islamic crescent... even though that's what the Kazan Kremlin looks like.

22

A senior member of the Polish state broadcaster TVP Marcin Wolski, has admitted that the broadcaster made "worse propaganda than [under communism] in the 1970s”. He says that this distrust contributed to the fall of PiS in last Sunday's election.

10

The international alliance of centre-right parties, the International Democracy Union, which includes the GOP, the Liberals and both Conservative parties has appointed former British PM Boris Johnson as a member of its Honorary Advisory Board. No joke!

8

You're probably wondering right now: "Can we finally get George W. Bush elected as Speaker of the House?" Well, no, you probably weren't wondering that at all, actually. But one House Democrat from California apparently was.

36

Wingnut Jim Jordan fails vote for House Speaker with 20 Republicans voting against him.

26

'At least 500' dead in strike on Gaza hospital complex, health officials say. It's unclear if it's from an IDF strike, a misfired Palestinian rocket, or something else. President Biden appears to believe it was a misfired rocket.

10

The UK's Adam Smith Institute, which is partly funded by American climate denial and tobacco interests, plans to "expand its network" into the Labour Party. The right-wing think tank even plans to announce that it now has a Labour peer as a patron.

31

The Dutch main centre-left coalition GroenLinks/PvdA has voted to include a party platform of making the Netherlands a parliamentary republic.

13

Dozens of refugees fleeing Gaza's destruction killed as Israel conducts ground raids

27

Obscure 1861 law in Pennsylvania banning fortune-telling apparently still enforced. A witchcraft shop received a police chief visit due to tarot readings.

22

Jewish and Palestinian diaspora attacked in scattered violent incidents. Many of these have been linked by authorities to the Israel-Palestine war. Examples include three attacks in New York City and a stabbing spree in France. Unfortunately, more examples are likely to come.

35

Japanese court grants a trans man that he is not required to undergo sterilization to change his legal gender. It sparks hope that a Supreme Court case could soon question the law requiring this altogether.

23

Uganda's constitutional court to hear challenges against homophobic law

4

The indigenous Voice to Parliament proposal has failed in Australia with a majority no vote, in a national constitutional referendum.

3

New Zealand Labour prime minister Chris Hipkins has lost in the election to National leader & evangelical Christopher Luxon.

20

Sen. Bob Menendez has been charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent of Egypt in a new indictment.

29

Japan asks its courts to revoke the legal status of the Japanese branch of the Unification Church, commonly known as the "Moonies". The government alleges that the Church has committed financial abuses against its members; one member's son was the gunman who assassinated former PM Shinzō Abe.

21

After going on strike earlier this month, Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers have won 21% in wage increases over the next four years and a baseline wage of $23 per hour (and $25 in California).

16

BBC journalists were assaulted by Israeli police.

15

The FBI is questioning Muslims and Palestinians, echoing post-9/11 surveillance. This comes after Joe Biden's pledge for a national law enforcement focus on "domestic threats."

14

Latest escalations. Israelis struck a Lebanese army post (though, skirmishes there are still limited). Lebanese soldiers and UN peacekeepers gather near the border with Israel. Israel beginning ground assaults on Gaza using infantry and tanks in "localized raids".

3

France has banned pro-Palestine protests.

17

Syria says that Israel has hit two of its airports with rockets, likely to prevent Iran’s foreign minister from arriving. Update: These were two of Syria's main airports, and they are now out of service.

17

Israel has told roughly 1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to evacuate within 24 hours before an expected invasion by the IDF. The U.N. has stated this would be impossible.

15

It's been confirmed that Israel has used white phosphorus in the Gaza Strip (Palestine) and Lebanon.

19

Czech researchers are warning that climate change is making hops yields smaller and changing the footprint of where they grow. This means that the taste of certain beers could change, as the terroir of the hops affects the flavour of the beer.

13

Conservative groups (such as the libertarian Cato Institute) launch another effort to block student loan debt relief, this time potentially impacting 804,000 people.

13

Keir Starmer has said he is a "YIMBY", and would support the government overruling local authorities planning decisions on building on the "grey belt", that is under-used urban land in the green belt.

16

Former editor of the Daily Telegraph, and Johnson's former boss Max Hastings has said in an interview he's going to be voting Labour in the next election. He says that the Conservatives have "been taken over by cynics and fantasists".

22

The main gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia, the Balticconnector has been suspiciously damaged, limiting gas deliveries between the two countries. Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reports that a Russian freighter was near the pipeline over the weekend.

19

European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton has called for Elon Musk to deal with the large amount of misinformation on X in relation to the Israel-Hamas violence, saying it breaks the Digital Service Act.

14

GOP supermajorities in North Carolina's legislature have overridden the Democratic governor's vetoes to enact laws that eliminate the governor's power to appoint the State Board of Elections (transferring it to the legislature), and end the three-day grace period to receive and count absentee ballots that were postmarked by Election Day.

27

GOP congressman George Santos hit with ten additional federal charges, including: credit card fraud, identity theft, wire fraud, conspiracy, etc. George Santos now faces a total of 23 federal charges, which also include money laundering and lying to Congress.

31

Israel has begun a "complete siege" of Gaza City, with all "electricity, food, water and fuel" withheld. Egypt states they will provide some aid regardless, though the sole Egypt-Gaza border crossing was briefly disrupted by air raids.

-17

California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoes a bill that would've banned caste-based discrimination in the state. He's vetoed some other bills recently, including one to limit insulin prices.

19

Part of an anti-Israel rally in Sydney, Australia broke into chants of "gas the Jews" and "fuck the Jews", now the incident is under investigation by the police.

16

Israel's major parties discuss an emergency unity government. Benny Gantz appears more amiable to a deal with Netanyahu, but Yair Lapid & co. don't want to be involved if the far-right (the likes of Itamar Ben-Gvir) are part of the coalition. Update: A unity government was formed with Gantz.

19

The European Union has announced that it's suspending hundreds of millions of euros in aid for Palestine. ETA: or maybe not..... - not everyone was on board with the decision.

11

Over 2,000 people killed by an earthquake in Afghanistan, the latest of several devastating the country this year.

16

Hamas militants opened fire on a music festival in Israel, slaughtering an estimated 260 people and taking an unknown number of hostages. American and British citizens were present in the crowd.

29

Germany has frozen its aid to Palestine. Note: this follows reports that at least one German-Israeli woman was killed and paraded around as a naked corpse by Hamas, though Germany's foreign ministry implied that there have probably been other German civilians killed.

24

Artillery and missile fire exchanged between Israel and Lebanon. There were no reported casualties. However, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility, possibly now involving themselves in the war. Yet to be seen how involved they will really be. Update: October 9 reports that Hezbollah fired on north Israel again.

21

The current head of the German far-right party AfD, Tino Chrupalla, was hospitalized on 4 October with rather mild symptoms. A medical report claimed he had been attacked with a syringe, but apparently this was only based on his own reports. Eyewitnesses were not able to recall any physical attack and no poisonous substances were found.

47

Hamas soldiers mass-fired rockets at Israel, stormed the border, caught the IDF off-guard, killed soldiers and civilians, including Ofir Libstein, the mayor of Israel's Sha'ar Hanegev region. They've taken Israeli civilians hostage, and there is currently a war going on in the streets. Israel is firing rockets back at the Gaza Strip. This is the largest military action by Hamas in recent memory.

26

Climate change and a rising population are causing Manila, the Philippines' capital city of 13 million people, to run low on water. The government is building a dam to solve this issue, but indigenous activists say it will destroy their ancestral lands. Officials project Manila will experience a severe water shortage by 2027.

18

Man convicted of planning to kill the (late) Queen was seemingly encouraged by an LLM chatbot.

36

زن، زندگی، آزادی (Woman, Life, Freedom). Iranian women's right activist Narges Mohammadi has won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, for her fight against the oppression of women and the death penalty in Iran.

17

With the Kremlin's hold on Crimea starting to look rather dubious, Russia has reportedly made a deal with Abkhazia to build a naval base in Ochamchire. Georgia, which Abkhazia is de jure part of, is naturally not pleased.

12

Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers are striking across states. About 75,000 people are expected to strike.

32

Reuters is reporting that 𝕏 is in financial trouble after experts have valued the company at just $8 billion, approximately ¾ less of the $41 billion that was paid for the company a year ago. Also, it is less than the $13 billion that Musk borrowed from various banks including Morgan Stanley to purchase the company.

8