Archive for the ‘Obama’ Category

No, Former President Obama Isn’t Being Added to the $1 Bill – ABC News

It would have been a major change for your wallet -- but the article isn't true. A fake news story making the rounds over the last week falsely claimed that former President Barack Obama will be replacing George Washington on the $1 bill.

It's not based on fact.

We thought about creating a new denomination for Obama, but George Washington has had plenty of time in the sun, says a spokesperson in the fake news story. Several versions of the article have appeared across the internet, showing that thousands of people have shared the story.

The post appears to have originally surfaced on a website called "Stuppid" in November 2014. It features a prominent Photoshopped image of former President Obama on a $1 bill. A disclaimer on that website says, "We aim to publish the stupidest, craziest stuff we can find." It appeared several times again in March 2015 and is making a comeback now on a site called True Americans.

The most recent version has inspired comments like "LEAVE THE MONEY ALONE!" and "this should not be allowed."

More than two-dozen sites known to carry fake news have picked it up, and other sites have posted the same story under a headline asking a poll question. No contact information was available for the True Americans website.

An administrator for Stuppid's Facebook page told ABC News that they didn't remember writing the article and that they no longer write fake news. It appears its most recent article was posted last May, though its Facebook page was active in December.

Here's how we know this article isn't real:

"The law prohibits portraits of living persons from appearing on Government Securities," says the Treasury Department's website. "Therefore, the portraits on our currency notes are of deceased persons whose places in history the American people know well."

All former presidents on common U.S. paper money -- George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson and Ulysses S. Grant -- are no longer living.

One of the hallmarks of fake news stories, especially those written outside the United States, are misspelled words -- and this one is a giveaway. The headline says: "Barrack Obama Will Be On New $1 Dollar Bill 2017." The former president's name is Barack Obama, with one "R."

The article has other typographical mistakes, such as a missing period and missing spaces. The article, published two weeks ago on True Americans, also says Obama "still has a year left" in his term -- around the time of Donald Trumps inauguration.

The fake story cites a person named "John Apple" from the Federal Reserve as a spokesperson on the topic, adding that "people within the Federal Reserve" chose Obama over former President Ronald Reagan to be featured on the bill.

In reality, paper money is printed and designed by the U.S Department of the Treasury and its Bureau of Engraving and Printing, not the Federal Reserve. Once the currency is printed, the agency's website says, the bills are "transferred and securely stored in the Federal Reserve Vault for future pickup and distribution by the Federal Reserve Banks."

Ironically, the $1 bill is one of the only major denominations of paper money that isn't currently being redesigned.

"I have directed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to accelerate plans for the redesign of the $20, $10, and $5 notes," former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew wrote in April.

Abolitionist Harriet Tubman will be on the $20 bill, the department announced in April 2016. But the $5 and $10 bills will still feature Lincoln and Hamilton, respectively.

"We anticipate that final concept designs for the new $20, $10, and $5 notes will all be unveiled in 2020 in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote," Lew wrote.

Don't expect George Washington to leave the $1 bill anytime soon.

"Because the $1 note is infrequently counterfeited, the government has no plans to redesign this note," says the website of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

The $1 bill hasn't been touched since 1963. The $5, $10 and $20 bills were most recently resigned in 2008, 2006 and 2003, respectively, according to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The department says the new designs for those bills won't be finished for another three years.

ABC News has launched "The Real News About Fake News" powered by Facebook data in which users report questionable stories and misinformation circulating on the platform. The stories will undergo rigorous reporting to determine if the claims made are false, exaggerated or out of context. Stories that editorial partners have also debunked will then appear flagged in your News Feed.

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No, Former President Obama Isn't Being Added to the $1 Bill - ABC News

Chance the Rapper launches ‘Thank U Obama’ clothing line – The Hill (blog)

Chance the Rapper is launching a clothing line inspired by the former first family, called Thank U Obama.

Among the items in the online shop that opened this week: a $40 King Obama shirt featuring an illustration of the former president sporting a crown, a $35 tee emblazoned with Malia, the name of Obamas 18-year-old daughter, and a $50 Obamas Wedding Tee featuring the words Barack n Michelle written on the front, with the couples wedding date listed on the back.

The message continues, The night Obama won his first term gave me so much hope, especially & most importantly as a black man. I decided to make a collection saying thank you and give me something to smile at every now and then when I look in the closet.

Chance the Rapper tweeted to his nearly 3 million followers on Thursday:

The site crashed but we back up #ThankUObama https://t.co/VwPC4cYgDi pic.twitter.com/GlDDQwQyQf

The majority of items for sale on the site are on back order. Some, including an $150 Obama All-Star Jersey are sold out.

A scrolling message on the site says, Do not wear. This is art.

Chance the Rapper, who like Obama is from Chicago, attended a state dinner at the White House last October. He revealed to ITK at the time that he had a recurring dance battle going on with the then-president and was looking forward to another dance-off with Obama.

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Chance the Rapper launches 'Thank U Obama' clothing line - The Hill (blog)

GOP assault on Obama’s regs is just beginning – Politico

Republican lawmakers checked off a second energy industry rule from their kill list Friday, as they and President Donald Trump cranked up what they promise will be a far-reaching effort to erase the Obama administrations regulatory legacy.

The Senate convened before sunrise and voted to revoke a SEC rule requiring energy and mining companies to reveal their payments to foreign governments. Trump is expected to sign off on that repeal, along with a Senate action Thursday revoking a regulation on coal-mining pollution in streams.

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Both moves represent the first successful use in 15 years of the Congressional Review Act, an obscure law that allows Congress to repeal recently enacted regulations by simple-majority votes. The House separately voted Friday to repeal an Obama-era regulation curbing greenhouse gas pollution from oil and gas wells an action the Senate must approve before it goes to Trumps desk.

The Republican effort to dust off the 1996 law is just one aspect of Trump's anti-regulation drive. Trump also signed an executive order Friday to start unraveling the Dodd-Frank financial regulations put in place after the 2008 financial crisis, which the new president and congressional Republicans complain are strangling the economy.

The SEC rule that the Senate attacked Friday was required under Dodd-Frank, and was championed by Democrats and transparency advocates as a tool to curb corruption. Had such a rule been effect in past years, Exxon Mobil would have had to disclose what Russias government was getting from the companys multibillion-dollar investment in the country under then-CEO Rex Tillerson, who is now Trumps secretary of State.

Friday's unusually early Senate vote stemmed from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's clock management for the floor as well as senators' desire to catch flights home. Leaders in both chambers are acutely aware that the campaign to roll back Obama-era rules will be limited by Senate time restrictions, which also must make room for confirmation votes on Trump's Cabinet nominees and an ambitious GOP agenda on spending, health care and taxes.

For the next 60 days around here, thats probably the most important legislative activity moving these Congressional Review Act items through the chamber," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.).

Republicans are digging through a list of more than 200 measures that are ripe for repeal under the review act's time restrictions. They also must consider how many resolutions the Senate can deal with, given its slowness compared with the House.

The criteria will be based on how much the Senate can handle," said House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah). "Were not just going to repeal rules for the fun of repealing rules if the Senate doesnt have the time frame to actually pick them up."

The Congressional Review Act allows lawmakers to repeal any regulation completed within the past 60 legislative days. That means that any rule the Obama administration finished after mid-June is vulnerable, but that Congress must act by late May or early June, depending on each chambers schedule.

Once Congress uses the act to repeal a regulation, no future administration can enact any substantially similar rule without lawmakers' approval. Before this week, Congress had successfully used the review act only once, to overturn a Clinton administration rule in 2001.

Besides voting to repeal the SEC rule, both chambers also voted this week to vacate the coal-mining restrictions that the Interior Department had imposed in December, which were designed to protect steams from the waste created by mountaintop-removal coal mining. In addition, the House's vote Friday would wipe out the Obama administration's attempts to limit emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from oil and gas wells on public lands.

The energy industry opposes the methane limits because it would make companies incur the expense of capturing the greenhouse gas and shipping it to market. But environmental groups say controlling methane emissions is crucial in fighting climate change. Greens also complain that letting companies vent their methane into the atmosphere deprives the government of revenue it should receive for fuel produced on federal property.

"Theres absolutely no reason why the industry cant and shouldnt be responsible for limiting the methane pollution they waste, leak, vent and flare from our public lands," said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. "This rollback is like an early Valentines Day gift from the Republican-led House to the oil and gas industry, showing that they love them more than their constituents and everyone who is affected by this pollution."

The methane rule is just one of dozens of late Obama administration regulations that Republicans lambaste as a burden on U.S. businesses, contending they offer few benefits but come with high costs.

Obviously, over-regulation has been a constant complaint around the country and one of the reasons the economys not doing as well as it should, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) told POLITICO this week. So this is one tool we have available to us, obviously. So were going to do a number of these.

As soon as next week, the Senate is also expected to take up House-passed resolutions blocking rules that require background checks before Social Security recipients with mental health issues can buy guns, and order federal contractors to disclose labor law violations.

The House, meanwhile, has teed up several more resolutions likely to pass next week. Those would repeal rules on the reporting of work-related injuries and drug-testing requirements; teacher preparation; state education plans; and the use of public lands. More resolutions are in the works as Republican leaders sort through the list of rules that can be be eliminated, a House Republican aide said Friday.

The Trump administration may have to unwind other Obama-era rules through the regulatory process once his Cabinet is in place, or lawmakers may have to block them with appropriations riders, Republicans said.

Courts have never tested the provision of the Congressional Review Act that prohibits the executive branch from enacting rules similar to those lawmakers have repealed. It's almost certain to draw legal challenges in the future, although that's not much of a worry for Republicans now.

Were going to make a lot of lawyers rich, but if were going after regulations that I think are onerous then I think its worth the fight and we should do as much of it as we can," Cole said.

Eric Wolff and Alex Guilln contributed to this report.

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GOP assault on Obama's regs is just beginning - Politico

Barack Obama Rocks His Hat Backwards While Vacationing in the British Virgin Islands – Entertainment Tonight

Playing Barack Obama Rocks His Hat Backwards While Vacationing in the British Virgin Islands

Island vibes!

Barack Obama was spotted in full vacation mode on Tuesday, rocking his hat backwards while taking a stroll in the British Virgin Islands with his wife, Michelle Obama.

RELATED: President Obama's Post-White House Plan: A Trip to Palm Springs!

The 55-year-old former president went for an ultra-casual look, trading in his signature suit and tie for shorts and flip flops, as he and the former first lady waved at a nearby crowd.

READ: President Barack Obama Shares Sweet Birthday Message to Michelle Obama

Obamas backwards hat was the talk of Twitter, with one tweet reading, "Obama got his hat to the back like it's 1990 and trump isn't president. GET YO A** BACK HERE... with respect, sir."

Other tweets focused on the joy of seeing the former POTUS happily enjoying his vacation after eight years in the White House.

"Seeing Obama on vacation in flip flops with his hat to the back just brought me so much joy," tweeted one user.

"Obama in a backwards hat is my favorite Obama," read another tweet.

WATCH: President Obama Thanks Americans in Parting Letter: 'You Have Made Me a Better Man'

While the ex-POTUS has been soaking up the sun since leaving Washington D.C. last month, hes still being praised for his work in the White House.

Chicago native Chance the Rapper took to Twitter on Thursday to announce the launch of his Thank U Obama clothing line in honor of the 44th president.

MORE: Ellen DeGeneres Shares Touching Tribute Montage to the Obama Family

The Obamas jetted off on vacation after President Donald Trump's inauguration last month.

See the couple's final day in the White House below.

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Barack Obama Rocks His Hat Backwards While Vacationing in the British Virgin Islands - Entertainment Tonight

House Votes To Overturn Obama Rule Restricting Gun Sales To the Severely Mentally Ill – NPR

The United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call,Inc. hide caption

The United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

On Thursday the GOP-controlled House voted to overturn an Obama administration rule designed to keep firearms out of the hands of some people deemed mentally ill.

The action was the latest move by Congressional Republicans to undo several of President Obama's regulations on issues such as gun control and the environment though an arcane law called the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

According to NPR's Susan Davis, the measure being blocked from implementation would have required the Social Security Administration to send records of some beneficiaries with severe mental disabilities to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. About 75,000 people found mentally incapable of managing their financial affairs would have been affected.

The National Rifle Association had pushed for the repeal, and Republicans argued it infringed upon Second Amendment rights by denying due process.

Supporters of the rule argued it was designed to stop mentally ill persons from getting firearms.

"The House charged ahead with an extreme, hastily written, one-sided measure that would make the American people less safe," Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., said, according to The Hill. Esty represents Newtown, Conn., where a mentally ill man shot and killed 20 six- and seven-year-olds and six adults.

NPR's Nathan Rott reports that the Senate also passed a resolution to undo the Obama administration's Stream Protection Rule, also largely along party lines, by using the CRA. The goal of the rule was to minimize coal mine pollutants in waterways, and would have required coal companies to monitor water quality in nearby streams during mining operations. Republicans argued the law was too burdensome and would kill jobs in the coal industry.

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House Votes To Overturn Obama Rule Restricting Gun Sales To the Severely Mentally Ill - NPR