February 4, 2016

U.S. President Barack Obama stops to greets children from Al-Rahmah School, the parochial school connected to the Islamic Society of Baltimore, a mosque, on February 3, 2016. The president made his first visit to an American mosque at a time when Muslim-Americans say they are confronting increasing levels of bias in speech and actions from their fellow Americans. Credit: © Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP Photo

Yesterday, for the first time in his presidency, U.S. President Barack Obama visited an American mosque. As president, Obama has visited mosques in foreign nations, but never one in the United States. His hesitancy about such a visit at home can be traced, at least in part, to a continuing misconception held by a number of Americans—the false belief that President Obama is a Muslim. According to polls, approximately 1/3 of the people in the United States believe Obama is a follower of the Islamic faith. The president is, in fact, a Christian.

The president’s father, Barack Obama, Senior, was Kenyan. Obama Senior was born a Muslim, but had become an atheist by the time of his marriage to President Obama’s mother. The president’s mother, Ann Dunham, was an American who was a non-practicing Christian. Obama was born in Hawaii, but lived overseas for part of his childhood, mostly in Indonesia, where he encountered both Muslims and Hindus, so he was exposed to many religions. While living in New York City as a young man, he occasionally attended African American Christian churches. In the early 1990′s, he moved to Chicago and chose the Protestant faith as his own. He was baptized at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. 

Now, in Obama’s last year as president, it may be that he, or his staff, have less concern about speaking to problematic issues. During this last year as president, Obama has been more willing to speak about racial and religious intolerance. On February 3, the president visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore, in Maryland, where he removed his shoes as a sign of deference (a Muslim custom for visitors to a mosque) and recited phrases from the Qur’ān. He also gave a speech that The New York Times considered to be a “bookend” to a speech he delivered at Cairo University In Egypt in 2009. Then, President Obama stated, “I’ve come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles—principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.” Still speaking to a theme of religious tolerance and understanding nearly eight years later, in Baltimore the president said, “First, at a time when others are trying to divide us along lines of religion or sect, we have to reaffirm that most fundamental of truths: We are all God’s children. We’re all born equal, with inherent dignity. And so often, we focus on our outward differences and we forget how much we share. Christians, Jews, Muslims—we’re all, under our faiths, descendants of Abraham.  So mere tolerance of different religions is not enough. Our faiths summon us to embrace our common humanity.”

Some of the speech could be seen as a rebuttal to Republican candidates in the 2016 presidential race who have called for banning Muslims from entering the United States. Obama’s message was instead one of American inclusiveness.

Other links

• The White House (videotape of President Obama’s speech, “A New Beginning,” given at
  Cairo University on June 4, 2009)
• The White House (text of the president’s speech given on February 3, 2016, at a mosque in Baltimore, Maryland)

December 11, 2015

United States President Barack Obama yesterday moved to significantly reduce the federal government’s involvement in the nation’s public schools and to give states and local school districts authority to set their own academic standards for kindergarten through high school. Calling it a “Christmas miracle,” President Obama signed into law the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) passed by the U.S. Congress earlier this month. The new law received strong bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, despite the fact that liberal and conservative members had failed to agree on many other important issues over the previous year.

A teacher and student work together in a special education classroom. Special education is designed to help both disabled and gifted children use their full learning ability.
Credit: © Richard T. Nowitz, Photo Researchers

ESSA replaces the federal law known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). At the time it was introduced, NCLB was widely heralded as a way to force schools to devote more resources to poor students and minority groups. The U.S. Congress passed NCLB in 2001. President George W. Bush, who signed it into law in 2002, expressed the hope that it would eliminate “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” The law was considered President Bush’s signature education initiative.

However, over the years, the law had become widely unpopular. NCLB sought to improve student performance and hold schools accountable by measuring student progress through high-stakes testing. The testing program was designed to identify schools that failed to meet basic educational standards, such as those called the Common Core. Schools had to raise test scores every year or face penalties. If test scores for a particular school failed to show adequate improvement over several years, the school could be closed or its staff replaced. NCLB also sought to provide assistance and options for students in failing schools. NCLB was due for reauthorization in 2007, but Congress failed to agree on the terms of the reauthorization. Critics had charged that NCLB gave the federal government too much control over the nation’s public schools.

The ESSA gives states greater flexibility in raising student performance and setting accountability goals. State plans must still, however, be approved by the U.S. Department of Education. Under ESSA, students will also continue to be tested annually in math, reading, and science in third through eighth grades and once in high school. But states will have more authority in deciding how to weigh test scores, how to evaluate teachers, and what to do about underachieving schools.

Additional World Book articles:

• The Child Left Behind – A Special Report
• Education (2001) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2002) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2003) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2004) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2005) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2007) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2008) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2009) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2010) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2011) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2012) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2013) – A Back in Time article
• Education (2014) – A Back in Time article
• State government (2003) – A Back in Time article
• United States, Government of the (2005)  – A Back in Time article

August 4, 2015

Yesterday, August 3, U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a new initiative to combat climate change, the Clean Power Plan. President Obama called the plan “the biggest, most important step we have ever taken” concerning climate change. The regulations, if approved, will authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate power plants that generate electric power in order to reduce carbon emissions by 32 percent by 2030.

The plan will likely hit the coal industry the hardest. About 40 percent of electricity in the United States is generated with coal. The coal is used to heat water, generating steam. This steam turns a turbine, which powers a generator that creates electricity. The problem with coal is that it emits twice as much carbon dioxide into Earth’s atmosphere as does natural gas used for the same purpose. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps heat in Earth’s atmosphere, leading to rising average temperatures.

Coal-burning power plants such as this release carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases trap heat, contributing to global warming, an observed increase in Earth’s average surface temperature.© Thinkstock

There are more than 50 major coal mines in the United States. Many of the mines are in West Virginia and Wyoming. So, coal is a domestically produced fuel source, and U.S. states that produce coal will be hurt by any regulation that reduces its use. At one time, using natural gas to fuel power plants would have been very expensive for the United States. But, the development of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in such U.S. states as North Dakota has caused the cost of natural gas to drop dramatically.

Natural gas is perhaps the easiest fuel source to change out for coal to reduce emissions. Renewable energy, such as wind power and solar power can also be used to generate electricity. Both methods, however, require building an electric-power grid that can move power from remote locations where wind and solar farms are to populated areas where electricity is needed. Nevertheless, such power sources are already being used and will be more used in the future. President Obama stated yesterday, “I’m convinced no challenge provides a greater threat to the future of the planet…There is such a thing as being too late.”

Wind turbines capture energy from moving air—wind—and change it into electrical energy. This photograph shows a wind turbine “farm” in the California desert. © Shutterstock

Other World Book articles:

• Climate
• Global Warming
• Greenhouse effect

July 27, 2015

Last Friday, July 24, U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in his father’s homeland of Kenya. It is the first visit to Kenya by a serving president of the United States, but it is not Obama’s first visit. He traveled to Kenya as a law student in 1998.

U.S. President Barack Obama is seen as a child with his Kenyan father in an undated family snapshot from the 1960′s. Credit: Reuters/Landov

On his first night in Kenya, Obama attended a dinner with family members on his father’s side. On Saturday, he met with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Jomo Kenyatta, the first leader of independent Kenya. Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Obama discussed economic and business issues, as well as Islamic extremism in Africa. The Islamic militant group al-Shabab has been active and has launched a number of attacks in Kenya. Obama also discussed human rights issues in Kenya.

On Sunday, Obama spoke at a sports arena. His speech encouraged Kenya, but it also touched on things about Kenya that need to change in order for Kenya to move forward. Some of the issues Obama focused on were corruption, rights for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender) people, and women’s rights. About women, Obama stated,  “Treating women and girls as second-class citizens, those are bad traditions,” he said. “They need to change. They’re holding you back.”

President Obama left Kenya for Ethiopia on Sunday. Today, Monday the 27th, he meets with African leaders to try to encourage South Sudan to accept an agreement to end the violence in that country. Since 2013, a civil war in South Sudan has killed thousands of people.

Other World Book articles:

• Gay rights movement
• Terrorism
• Women’s movement

June 25, 2015

This morning, the United States Supreme Court upheld a key portion of the health insurance reform law known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), often referred to as Obamacare. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 6-3 majority opinion allowing the federal government to provide subsidies in all 50 states, not just those states with independent exchanges. The subsidies help low- and moderate-income people purchase health insurance. The decision, a major victory for President Barack Obama’s administration, prevented millions of Americans from losing their health coverage. The court’s ruling was its second in defense of the ACA, which has been under constant Republican attack since Congress passed the law in 2010.

The Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. (© Joe Sohm, Photo Researchers)

The ruling ended the case of King v Burwell which challenged the legality of federal subsidies in the 34 states—nearly all Republican-led—without exchanges. In these states, political leaders have resisted or simply failed to create state-level insurance marketplaces, forcing people to purchase insurance independently or directly from the federal government. The case centered on the phrase “established by the state” within the ACA. Limousine driver David King—who did not qualify for a subsidy in Virginia—sued U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell, arguing that subsidies paid out to more people than the law intended raised his rates to an unfair and unacceptable level.

In the official Supreme Court opinion, Justice Roberts said the law clearly meant to make subsidies available to all Americans whether or not their local insurance exchange was “established by the state.” He wrote, “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them.” The ACA sought to improve Americans’ health coverage by expanding access to public health plans, by requiring individuals to purchase private insurance, and by reforming various practices in the insurance industry. President Obama, pleasantly reacting to the court’s decision, said that “the whole point of public service” is to look after each other and improve the lot of fellow Americans. “So this was a good day for America.”

Additional World Book articles:

• U.S. Supreme Court Upholds “Obamacare” (June 28, 2012, Behind the Headline article)
• Health 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Supreme Court of the United States 2012 (a Back in Time article)
• Health 2013 (a Back in Time article)
• Health Care Reform–What’s In It for You? (a special report)

January 22, 2015

Speaker of the House of Representatives John A. Boehner yesterday invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress on February 11. Political analysts suggested that the invitation, which Netanyahu accepted, is part of a growing showdown between Republicans and President Barack Obama over proposals to tighten sanctions against Iran. Iran, the United States, and other world powers are in negotiations over possible controls and monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program, including levels of uranium enrichment. Despite these talks, Israel, according to a number of military experts, is preparing for air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

In his State of the Union address to Congress on January 20, President Obama appealed to the Republican-controlled House and Senate to hold off on any additional sanctions against Iran while diplomatic talks continue over possible ways to limit Iran’s nuclear program. [New sanctions] “will all but guarantee that diplomacy fails, alienating America from its allies and ensuring that Iran starts up its nuclear program again,” the president stated in his address.

Speaking to Republican lawmakers yesterday, Boehner noted that he hoped Netanyahu would speak on the threat radical Islam and Iran pose to U.S. security. “He [President Obama] expects us to stand idly by and do nothing while he cuts a bad deal with Iran,” said Boehner.

Today, a White House spokesperson informed the media that President Obama would not meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu upon his arrival in February.

Additional World Book article:

• Nuclear weapon

January 20, 2015

At tonight’s State of the Union address, President Barack Obama will announce a series of proposals designed to aid middle class and poor Americans and address income inequality in this country. These proposals include an increase in the child care credit and a $500-tax credit for working couples. To pay for it, inheritance and investment taxes, such as taxes on capital gains, would be increased, which mainly affects the wealthy. The president also proposes closing some loopholes that small numbers of the super-rich exploit. These included moving money offshore to such tax havens as the Cayman Islands. Political experts suggest that the president’s proposed change to the tax code will not pass in the Republican-controlled House and Senate but is likely to shape the upcoming presidential race. They point out that as the economy improves, both parties will be forced to address the underlying issues of stagnant wages and inequality that has resulted in a steadily shrinking middle class.

President Obama will give his annual State-of-the-Union address to a joint session of Congress this event. During joint sessions, all members of the Senate and the House of Representatives meet in the House chamber. (© Greg Mathieson, MAI/Landov)

Yesterday, the charity Oxfam released a study on income distribution. (Oxfam is an international confederation of organizations working worldwide to find solutions to poverty and injustice around the world.) The study’s authors concluded that by 2016 the richest 1 percent of the world’s population will likely control more than half of the world’s total wealth. The world’s 80 wealthiest individuals together own $1.9 trillion, reported the study’s authors, nearly the same amount shared by the 3.5 billion people who occupy the bottom half of the world’s income scale. The type of inequality that currently characterizes the world’s economies, and in particular, the U.S. economy, is unlike anything seen since before the Great Depression of the 1930′s, the report concluded. Oxfam’s warning about deepening global inequality comes just as the world’s business elite prepares to meet this week at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Additional World Book articles:

• Income tax
• Tax evasion

December 18, 2014

The United States will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba and open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half-century, U.S. President Barack Obama announced yesterday in a nationally televised statement from the White House. The agreement to set aside more than 50 years of hostility and forge a new relationship between the United States and Cuba was negotiated during 18 months of secret talks fostered by Pope Francis and largely hosted by Canada.

Pope Francis (AP Photo)

On December 16, President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro of Cuba spoke for more than 45 minutes by telephone. “We agreed to end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries,” stated President Obama. [The deal will] “begin a new a chapter among the nations of the Americas” [and move beyond] “rigid policy that’s rooted in events that took place before most of us were born.” The warming between the two countries came with the release of an American contractor, Alan P. Gross, who has held in a Cuban prison for five years. Cuba exchanged the contractor for three Cuban spies who had been in an American prison since 2001.

U.S. President Barack Obama (White House photo)

Raúl Castro, left, with his brother Fidel Castro. © Reuters/Landov

The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961 after the government of Fidel Castro had seized various U.S.-owned assets in Cuba and nationalized them. The United States had placed an economic embargo on Cuba three months earlier. The embargo banned nearly all U.S. exports to the island nation. It has been in place for 53 years. Before the boycott, Cuba–which is only 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Key West, Florida–was a favorite destination of American tourists.

Additional World Book articles:

• Bay of Pigs Invasion
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• The Cold War’s Last Front: The United States and Cuba
• Cuba 1960 (a Back in Time article)
• Cuba 1961 (a Back in Time article)
• Cuba 1962 (a Back in Time article)

November 21, 2014

Last evening, U.S. President Barack Obama gave a speech outlining his plan for changing the United States immigration system. Legal immigration into the United States is a difficult process. Only around 990,000 people in 2013 were granted a “green card” giving its holder the right to live and work in the United States. It is difficult to gauge the precise number of illegal immigrants in the United States, but the Department of Homeland Security estimates it to be some 11 million people.

U.S. Border Patrol members ride all-terrain vehicles near El Paso, Texas, looking for signs of illegal immigration and other crimes. Juarez, Mexico, rises in the background. (© Jim Young, Reuters/Landov)

For some time, politicians have called for a fix to the American immigration system, which many experts call “broken.” Some of the problems with the system that experts cite include the small number of visas available for highly educated immigrants, the way that current immigration laws can end up splitting families when children are born to or brought to the United States by parents who are illegal aliens, and the lack of a path for long-time workers in the United States to become documented workers or citizens. Also, because immigration papers are capped to a certain number of immigrants from each country per year, regardless of that country’s population or location, citizens from such countries as Mexico and China are disadvantaged for becoming legal immigrants to the United States.

Since 2001, American legislators have studied and debated versions of an act on Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors—the DREAM Act. This bill would offer a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children. In 2010, such a bill passed the House of Representatives but did not come to a vote in the Senate. In 2012, President Obama announced his administration would stop deporting qualified immigrants who had arrived in the United States illegally in childhood for at least two years under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program. The DREAM Act passed the Senate in 2013, but the House then refused to allow the bill to come to a vote as written. Because people in the United States have very strong opinions on immigration, it causes politicians to be hesitant to pass new laws concerning it.

President Obama decided to use executive order—a process whereby a president can make an official proclamation that becomes law—to implement some changes to the immigration policies of the United States. President Obama offered a “deal” to illegal immigrants last night, stating: “If you’ve been in America more than five years. If you have children who are American citizens or illegal residents. If you register, pass a criminal background check and you’re willing to pay your fair share of taxes, you’ll be able to apply to stay in this country temporarily without fear of deportation. You can come out of the shadows and get right with the law.” This change will not permit such illegal immigrants to become citizens, but it is a step that allows long-time residents and families to remain in the United States.

Additional World Book articles:

• Citizenship and Immigration Services, United States
• Illegal alien
• Immigration Politics 2006 (a Special Report)
• Passport to Reform: The INS and Homeland Security (a Special report)

November 13, 2014

President Barack Obama posted an essay on November 10 to the website Medium arguing for net neutrality, the idea that all data that flows over the Internet should be treated equally. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently considering new rules for net neutrality. The rules could regulate Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) to ensure that net neutrality is upheld. However, many have expressed concern that the rules could leave gaping loopholes. While noting the FCC’s independence, Obama echoed those concerns in his essay and asked the FCC to uphold them.

U.S. President Barack Obama discusses net neutrality in a video aired on November 10, 2014. (White House photo)

Internet data travels in signals, called packets, that move through the Internet’s “net” of routers and wires. ISP’s typically provide the so-called “last mile” connection from the Internet to a user’s home. Net neutrality supporters worry that ISP’s may block, slow down, or charge extra for certain kinds of data, such as websites from rival companies. They also argue that access to Internet information has become a necessity, much like access to water or postal services, and thus should be subject to stricter regulations that govern utilities.

ISP’s have argued that they need technological leeway to manage their traffic and worried that strong net neutrality regulations might cripple their ability to do so. Earlier this year, the video streaming site Netflix began paying two ISP’s—Comcast and Verizon—for faster access to their networks. While the arrangements—called paid peering—did not affect how the ISP’s sorted traffic on their own networks, net neutrality supporters argued that such “fast lanes” could still discriminate against certain kinds of Internet traffic.

Obama did not explicitly say such arrangements should be banned, but he argued that they should be transparent. The FCC had sought to impose net neutrality regulations in previous years, but courts struck them down in January—thus the need for new rules.

• Additional World Book articles:
• Internet (a Back in Time article-2010)
• Internet (a Back in Time article-2009)
• Internet (a Back in Time article-2008)