How do you calculate that 400% figure as relating entirely to going after pirates?

Identify the software, and I will find you a cracked version. I'll even time how long it takes me.

The movement in religion seems to be towards the extremes. Fundamentalism and atheism are both on the rise - it's the middle that is in decline, the people who profess belief but only go to church for weddings and funerals, and who never actually read their bible. There's a contradiction in such people - they openly profess a belief which should define their lives, but ignore it in all their actions. So it's easy to confront them with this and force them to either turn devout and practice what they claim, or admit they were lying to themselves about believing all along and abandon their religion altogether.

Naughties arguably fits in some regions, as one of the characteristic aspects of that decade was a relaxation of sexual taboos.

Indeed. The mufti system worked back when there was a caliphate, much like when the Catholic church was the only Christian game in town (Well, no-one cared about the Orthodox). There was a clear chain of command and structure of authority to decide who gets to be a priest and who doesn't, and set rules as to what areas priests may have authority over with procedures for dispute resolution. If there was a disagreement over what the religion is supposed to mean, you just go up the chain until someone is willing to resolve it, and you can disregard anyone who claims to be a religious teacher but isn't recognised by the dominant authority. Then the protestant reformation comes along, or the caliphate ends, and there's no more power structure. You get one priest screaming that infidels must die, and another screaming that they must be allowed to live in peace and receive preaching in the hope they will one day convert freely, and another screaming that they may live but need to demonstrate subservient status, and another saying believers should have no contact with them at all - and there is nothing at all to say the opinion of any is more valid than another, so in the end the most charismatic personality with the largest band of followers wins.

While a fatwa must be issued by a qualified mufti, it's less clear how one becomes a qualified mufti. There are quite a lot of them, and they routinely issue contradictory fatwas and declare their rivals to be heretics.

The social networks are trying, but even the low-tech army of IS is good enough to make new dummy accounts as needed. If my mother can figure out how to use facebook, so can IS.

cheap, easy: Those motion-activated light controllers that go in the light fixture above the bulb.
cheap, good: Warm up the soldering iron and do it all yourself. May involve pulling cable and lots of assembling interface circuits on stripboard.
good, easy: There are several expensive commercial solutions, starting with the Nest thermostat and getting more elaborate from there. CES was flooded with them.

"Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened."

Looks pretty airtight to me. And just in case someone decides that 'generation' actually refers to a generation of civilisation or something of that nature, he then goes on to give an explicit instruction to the crowd he is addressing: "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come."

He even explains the reason for not specifying an exact day: He doesn't want everyone to party like it's the end of the world and just have a mass-repentance on judgements-eve.

No-one can invade Russia. They have nukes. Lots and lots of nukes, combined with a leader unpredictable enough that he might actually use them. The deterrent works.

He predicted the end of the world would come before one generation had passed, I think we can call him a liar.

Extremism is psychologically appealing. It gets rid of uncomfortable complexities, and replaces them with a clear sense of purpose and meaning.

Oil, mostly. The middle east is rich in it, everyone wants it, so all the world powers are playing games to secure influence in the region.

China would want in too - they would probably claim their forces are going in on humanitarian missions, but everyone would know their real function is to ensure that whoever gets to run the land after is some pro-China puppet, and not a pro-Western puppet.

So the HOA's purpose is only to do what the local council ought to be doing anyway - maintain the roads as a public infrastructure.

Douchy it may be, but should everything douchy be illegal? Every action is going to be considered douchy by someone.