On Thursday, President Barack Obama appeared at a college in Orlando, Fla., to pressure Congress into passing legislation aimed at easing the burden on women in the workforce. Flanked by a female audience members, the president said that women deserve paid sick days and equal pay with men. “If men were having babies, we’d have different policies,” he observed.
“Women are still earning just 77 cents on every dollar that a man does,” Obama said. “Women with college degrees may earn hundreds of thousands of dollars less over the course of her career than a man at the same educational level, and that’s wrong.”
“This isn’t 1958,” he added. “It’s 2014.” He said that he was pressuring Republicans to support The Paycheck Fairness Act, which he said they continue to block. “We’ve got to get them to change their minds and join us in this century because a woman deserves equal pay for equal work,” Obama said to applause.
“A woman deserves to take a day off to care for a sick child or a parent without running into hardship,” the president continued. “A woman deserves work place policies that protect her right to have a baby without losing her job.”
“It’s pretty clear that, you know, if men were having babies, we’d have different policies,” Obama said. “Right?”
Ukraine starts pulling out of Crimea, Australia spots what could be Malaysia Airlines debris, and more
1. Ukraine moves to pull soldiers out of Crimea
Ukraine announced plans to pull its troops out of Crimea after militiamen and Russian forces stormed two military bases there on Wednesday, a day after Russia annexed the breakaway Ukrainian region. Ukrainian Navy commander Admiral Serhiy Haiduk was seized during the operation, but was reportedly released by along with other detainees Thursday morning. [Mirror,CNN]
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2. Australia announces possible clue to missing Malaysia Airlines flight
Australia’s prime minister, Tony Abbott, said that a satellite had spotted two objects in the southern Indian Ocean that might be debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished March 8 en route from Kuala Lampur to Beijing with 239 people on board. One of the objects was 79 feet across, Australian authorities said Thursday, leading one aviation expert to express skepticism that that would be a “big piece of aircraft to have survived something like this.” [The Australian, CNN]
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3. Fed talk of an interest rate hike spooks investors
Stocks tumbled Wednesday after the Federal Reserve suggested it might let interest rates rise sooner than expected. At her first meeting as Fed chair, Janet Yellen said the central bank’s stimulus program could end by fall. Experts said that could be followed by an interest-rate hike in 2015. The Fed also made another $10 billion reduction in its monthly economy-stimulating bond purchases (to $55 billion), but that was expected. [CNBC]
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4. N.Y. Times: Pakistan intelligence knew where bin Laden was hiding
Pakistan’s spy agency knew Osama bin Laden was hiding in their country, according to an excerpt from a new book by New York Times reporter Carlotta Gall. The claim, made by a Pakistan official, was backed up by letters exchanged between bin Laden and militants allied with the intelligence agency. The correspondence was found in his hideout in Abbottabad after the 2011 U.S. raid that killed him. [The New York Times Magazine]
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5. Opponents call for Port Authority chairman to resign
Protesters and lawmakers incensed over the Bridgegate scandal and another controversy Wednesday demanded the resignation of the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, David Samson, an ally of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. At a monthly Port Authority board meeting, critics said the politically motivated bridge-lane closings, which created massive traffic jams, tainted Samson’s leadership record. [Reuters]
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6. Venezuelan government jails two opposition mayors
Venezuelan intelligence agents arrested one opposition mayor and the country’s Supreme Court ordered another removed from his post in an intensifying crackdown on anti-government resistance. Mayor Daniel Ceballos of San Cristobal, a flash point for the protest movement, was nabbed at a hotel in Caracas. The mayors joined opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez as the highest ranking critics jailed by President Nicolas Maduro’s government so far. [The Associated Press]
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7. Authorities free 108 immigrants from a suspected Houston stash house
Houston police and federal immigration authorities rescued 108 people, including 17 children, from a suspected stash house for undocumented immigrants in Houston, officials said Wednesday. The would-be immigrants — from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico — were locked in the one-story, one-bathroom house with very little food. Police, who arrested five suspected smugglers, said it was the largest such operation they had seen in five years. [Los Angeles Times]
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8. App maker says he’ll bring back Flappy Bird
Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen says he is bringing his wildly popular game back to life. Nguyen pulled the app out of the App Store in February. He said at the time it was making $50,000 a day in ads, but that he worried it was too addictive. He also said it was making his life miserable. Fans shouldn’t get too excited, though. Nguyen tweet Wednesday that he would bring the game back, “but not soon.” [Forbes]
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9. Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman hit by line drive
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman was hospitalized after being hit in the face by a line drive smacked by Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez in a spring training game Wednesday night. Chapman never lost consciousness, but he was left with fractures above his left eye and nose. The team managers called off the rest of the game. “It was frightening, certainly frightening,” Reds Manager Bryan Price said. [Columbus Dispatch]
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10. Newly discovered dinosaur looked like a “chicken from hell”
Scientists have identified a beaked, bird-like dinosaur that roamed the Dakotas 66 million years ago. It was 10 feet tall and had super-sharp claws. The beast also had a head like a chicken, and probably feathers. “We jokingly call this thing the ‘chicken from hell,'” said the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Matt Lamanna, lead author of an article announcing the discover in the journalPLoS ONE. [Discovery News]
Obama has done more to unite this nation than any president since Lincoln. But look at the lying racists, gun nuts, and hypocrites he’s up against. Meme by Elisabeth Parker for AI.
Someone took the time to compile this list and I wanted to share it…(H/t: DB)
FACT: As of August 16th of 2013, Obama had taken 92 days of vacation vs 367 for George W. Bush.
2) Obama has divided the nation.
FACT: Obama has done more to unite this nation than any president since Lincoln. But he’s up against a phalanx of 21st Century separatists, racists and neo-fascists, some of whom have openly proposed seceding. Here… let me hold that door for you. Besides; who’s dividing the Republican party into right wing and ultra-far right wings? Is Obama doing that too? Nope. Look in a mirror Teabigots.
3) Obama’s policies are bankrupting America.
FACT: Reagan added $1.9 trillion to the debt. Bush Sr. added an additional $1.5. Clinton added $1.4. Dubbya added $6.1. Obama has added less than $3.0, the bulk of which was to offset the effects of the Bush recession. Who holds that debt? China; $1.2 trillion. Japan; $900 billion. The Fed; $1.6 trillion. The public; $3.6 trillion. Government trusts; $1.9 trillion. Social Security; $2.7 trillion. So nice try, but no Kewpie doll for you
4) Obama’s a socialist.
FACT: Hardly. Obama’s economic and social policies are to the right of Kennedy’s, Eisenhower’s, Nixon’s, and even some of Reagan’s. If Obama’s a socialist, then Eisenhower, who had a 91% top tax rate, was a Republican Marxist.
5) Obama lied about keeping your present healthcare insurance.
FACT: Lying and being wrong are two different things. Obama turned out to be wrong, but he didn’t lie. He appeared before the cameras 28 times, repeating the exact same words — “If you like your present policy, you can keep it,” knowing full well he was being recorded each time. If you believe any president would deliberately set himself up like that, then Fox News is indeed the place for you.
6) Obama’s weak on foreign policy.
FACT: Osama bin Laden, the man who murdered 3,000+ Americans on 9/11 is dead. Muammar Khaddafi, the man who blew 300+ Americans out of the sky is dead. More al Qaeda terrorists were taken out under just Obama’s first three years than during the entire 8 years of Bush’s “War on Terrorism,” where we somehow managed to wind up in Iraq; a country that offered asylum to zero terrorists. ‘Nuff said.
7) Obama has taken sides with the Arabs against Israel.
FACT: “I think that from my point of view as defense minister they (American/Israeli relations) are extremely good, extremely deep and profound. I can see long years, um, administrations of both sides of political aisle deeply supporting the state of Israel and I believe that reflects a profound feeling among the American people. But I should tell you honestly that this administration under President Obama is doing in regard to our security more than anything that I can remember in the past. In terms of the support for our security, the cooperation of our intelligence, the sharing of sorts in a very open way even when there are differences which are not simple sometimes, I’ve found their support for our defense very stable.” ~ Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister of Israel
But what would he know?
8) America is less safe under Obama than ever before. FACT:
3,000 Americans killed by al Qaeda on 9/11, when George W. Bush was president. Zero successful al Qaeda attacks on America under Obama. Do the math.
9) Benghazi is Obama’s 9/11.
FACT: There were 13 attacks on American embassies during the Bush years, resulting in some 100 deaths. But Fox News and their reich-wing cohorts has never mentioned them. Benghazi is something that happened to us, not something the administration did. I’m sorry you haven’t gotten the memo, but Benghazi is just another Fox non-story. Same with the IRS “scandal.”
10) ObamaCare is Obama’s 9/11.
See #9.
11) Sandy Hook was Obama’s 9/11.
See a shrink.
12) Solyndra!
FACT: Solyndra was a $500 million loan that didn’t pay off. How much is $500 million? That’s how much the Bush administration spent every 18 hours on the Iraq War for five years – an expense no Republican ever complains about. And what was our reward? 4,500 Americans killed, at least 100,000 Iraqis killed, another 2 million Iraqis driven from their homes, the emergence of the Shia awakening, and our reputation in a shambles. Thanks Republicans. And you’re upset about half a billion spent on Solyndra.
13) Iraq is falling to al Qaeda due to Obama’s policies.
FACT: Had we not invaded Iraq in the first place, a war Obama opposed 12 years ago, we wouldn’t be seeing Falluja falling to al Qaeda. And who was it that wrote the timetable for our Iraq exit two years ago? Oh, yeah; the Bush administration. You might just as well blame Obama for Bush’s recession. Oh, wait — you do that too!
14) Obama’s policies are anti-business.
FACT: The Dow Jones when Clinton entered office in January 1993 was at 3,300. When he left office in January 2001: 10,662. Dow Jones when Bush left office in January 2009: 9,034. Dow Jones today: 16,437. The Dow has more than doubled in just the first five years of the Obama administration. Yes…. Businessmen just hate that.
15) Obama’s policies have resulted in massive unemployment.
FACT: When George W. Bush stumbled into office in January 2001, he inherited a 4.3% unemployment rate from Bill Clinton. When he left office 8 years later, the unemployment rate was 9.7% and rising fast. As of today, that number is 6.7%, no thanks to the Republicans in Congress who’ve done everything within their power to sabotage the recovery.
During the eight years under George W. Bush, his policies created just 1 million jobs (with another 2 million in the military). Since Barack Obama was sworn in five years ago, 7.6 million jobs have been created, and there are still three years left in his term. So, nice try.
16) Fast & Furious.
FACT: Another poorly conceived program left over from the Bush administration that the GOP is trying to pin on Obama. Move along.
17) Liberals always try to deflect from Obama’s record by bringing up Bush.
FACT: Wrong-o, Bozo. We just like to rub your noses in your hypocrisy. By intentionally ignoring, or even lying about Bush’s record and focusing instead on the above Fox News lies, you’ve liberated yourselves once again from those pesky facts. So it’s become incumbent upon us to set the record straight. To the contrary, conservatives are always trying to deflect from the failures of the Bush years by telling the aforementioned lies.
18) The deficit has skyrocketed under Obama.
FACT: The budget was balanced when Clinton left office in 2001 (in fact, he left Dubbya with a $300,000,000,000 surplus).
Eight years later, Bush left Obama with a $1,413,000,000,000 deficit and a 9.8% deficit/GDP ratio. Most of which was due to Bush’s deficit-spending on the Iraq War, Medicare Part D and the two tax cuts that largely went to the wealthy.
“Remember what Reagan taught us. Deficits don’t matter.” ~ Dick Cheney.
Since Obama’s election:
2010 — $1,294,000,000,000 8.7% deficit/GDP
2011 — $1,300,000,000,000 8.4% deficit/GDP
2012 — $1,087,000,000,000 6.8% deficit/GDP
2013 — $680,000,000,000 4.1% deficit/GDP
2014 — $560,000,000,000 3.3% deficit/GDP
See a pattern developing? Furthermore, the United States is now producing more oil than we import. Our overall trade deficit is at a four year low, as imported oil continues to decline. GM, Ford and Chrysler are all chugging along nicely, no thanks to a unified Republican/Teabigot party, who were eager to sacrifice 2 million American jobs on their altar of Obama Derangement Syndrome.
The trade gap has fallen 12.9% to $34.3 billion as Obama’s policies have made American products and services more available abroad, while Americans are increasingly buying more domestic products. The trade imbalance is now lower than at any time since the beginning of the recession, and the offshoring of American jobs has (finally) slowed to a trickle.
Our trade gap with China is down 6.7% (largely based on their taste for American cars — see above), our trade gap with Japan is down 8.4% and our trade gap with the European Union has dropped a whopping 29.4%.
Are things perfect? No. There’s still much to be done. But the rumors of Barack Obama’s “failures” have been greatly exaggerated, and it’s time to call these talking points what they are… lies. This president will go down in history as a man who achieved some amazing accomplishments, especially considering the unified opposition he’s had to endure since Day One.
So there you have it Fox News “patriots,” all your talking points shot to hell in one FACT-based document. How do you like them apples, bitches?
A Buddhist student and his family won a settlement last week against a Louisiana school district where the student’s religion was ridiculed in class as “stupid,” the teacher taught that evolution is “impossible,” and that the bible is “100 percent true.”
The court-approved consent decree prohibits future religious discrimination in a school district that had portraits of Jesus Christ in the halls and a “lighted, electronic marquee” outside one school that scrolls Bible verses. “Religious liberty, as embodied by the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and free speech are hallowed constitutional rights to which all are entitled,” the consent decree states.
Parents Scott and Sharon Lane alleged in their lawsuit that their attempts to report religious harassment were dismissed with comments that “this is the Bible Belt,” and that their son, referred to as “C.C.,” could either change his faith or transfer to another school where “there were more Asians.”
C.C.’s parents did transfer him to another school to curb his daily physical nausea and anxiety, even though it is a 30-minute drive from their home. But the school is in the same Sabine Parish district, and also promotes religious beliefs. The District posts a belief statement on its website that says, “We believe that: God exists.”
As part of the settlement, the school agreed to a permanent injunction on school-endorsed prayer during school events, promotion of religion, and “denigration of religion.” School staff will be required to participate in trainings with an attorney on the legal obligations of the settlement.
The Fifth Column 