In the information age we are inundated by news and trivia, Don’t Blink is a regular featured designed to hilight a whole bunch of stories you may have missed in a relatively small amount of space.
Canada:
Canada has been relatively quiet over the holiday, but it won’t stay that way for long. The Idle No More movement continues to gain steam and international attention. Also things like rail blockades will begin to become issues as they drag on. There is a Facebook Page and a Group for those who want to keep up.
Also, a new study says that spousal abuse in Canada costs us $7 Billion annually.
United States:
It was Christmas in the US too, but things were no less busy than usual. For Christmas, Americans got each other guns, lots of guns. In New York, one American used his guns to ambush fire fighters. Many of these guns were apparently bought at Wal Mart, which sold out out of guns at one point, though they continue to ban ‘dangerous products’ such as music with potentially offensive lyrics. Meanwhile, the NRA continued to lie about guns and the Westboro Baptist Church, too right wing for the KKK, is apparently a policy match for the Republican party.
The US is also about to take a big plunge off a fiscal cliff. President Obama is continuing to try to find solutions however a compromise with the Republicans seems unlikely given that the Republicans don’t know what to stand for anymore.
In other US news, it was revealed that the FBI treated the protest movement Occupy as terrorists and they did their best to create terrorists within Occupy. The US continued its Christmas tradition of killing people in other countries, the state of Georgia is making headway in its war on poverty … well, it’s war on poor people anyway, marijuana crops are causing environmental problems in California and New Orleans has decided that science should be taught in science classes.
The Other 95% of the World:
In the UK 60% of voters now support same sex marriage, British frozen dinners are healthier than the suggestions offered by TV chefs, and despite a year of some of the toughest anti-piracy laws in the western world, Britain reports no progress on file sharing.
In India, New Delhi was on lockdown due to mass protests over rape and is contemplating capital punishment for the crime. Swaziland has responded to a rape epidemic by banning ‘rape provoking clothing’. Israel continues to work against peace. Syria took advantage of long bread lines to bomb people. Fake vaccines are stalling progress in getting rid of malaria, Egypt’s new constitution appears to have passed again and Rome has unveiled a major archeological find.
Science:
In science and technology news this week, the internet is still mainly for porn, the Amazon rain forest is drying out, people are currently living on a simulated Mars colony, a captive tornado could power an entire city, and the BBC has recapped the year’s science hilights.
Religion:
In the world of god(s), a Catholic Deacon has been charged with producing and distributing child porn. a Mormon Bishop (and US Senator) has been arrested for drunk driving and an Archbishop says gays are bad.