Killing Osama

After being elected President, Obama accomplished many things but the most notable is ordering the killing of Osama Bin Laden. After several Security Council meetings, it is agreed to invade Pakistan in search of Osama. Navy Seals arrive at the building Osama was living in two Black Hawks and breaching the defenses of the building. The entire operation took around 40 minutes, with only around 5-10 minutes of actual firefight. At the end Osama was killed by a gunshot above his left eye.

Marwan Al-Shehhi

Marwan al-Shehhi was born on May 9, 1978, in the United Arab Emirates. Reports show that al-Shehhi's family lived in a village in Ras-al-Khaimah. Shehhi's father was rumored to be the person who called everyone to prayer in the local mosque. During 1997, al-Shehhi moved away from his home after a family crisis, and into Germany to study the German language. Then he moved into Hamburg where he enrolled in the same school as Mohamed Atta. In Hamburg, he became radicalized, after seeing how western powers were influencing his own country and began to feel alienated by them. He later became an al-Qaeda member. al-Shehhi was motivated enough to be the leader of the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 175 on 11 September 2001, and the plane was crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, alongside Mohamed Atta.

1993 World Trade Center Attack

In 1993, in one of New York´s World Trade Centers a car explosion was planted by Amzi Ahmed Yousef and Omar Abdel Rahman which were both members of Al Qaeda. Their actual intent of terror was to make the whole building collapse under itself. On the day of February 26, the plotters loaded up their 1,200 pound homemade bomb and headed to the building´s undergound parking lot. At 12:17 p.m. the bomb exploded, knocking out the World Trade Center’s sprinklers, generators, elevators, public address system, emergency command center and more than half of the high-voltage lines that fed electricity to the complex. Six people died that day, and about 1,000 people were injured from the smoke.

Suspicious Events Before 9/11

Weeks before the 9/11 attacks suspicious events took place that people find hard to believe as a coincidence.

1. Security at the WTC was increased
Around August of 2001, there was a lot of reason to believe that the 9/11 attack would take place soon. Security was placed in the entrance of the underground garage where deliveries were made. This exact place was the same place where the bomb went off in 1993. This increase in security was removed on the day of the 9/11 attack, striking as unusual for the other workers.

2. Fire alarms were constantly being tested
Every morning for 7 days the fire alarms in the buildings were being tested, meaning they were not in use until the afternoon. Any time the alarms went off, it was already expected as a result of the maintenance on these alarms.

3. Elevators were not working
The most suspicious event was when the elevators stopped working in the months leading up to the 9/11 attack. Elevators that went from the ground to the top of the building were not working and elevators would malfunction. There were a total of 10 elevators in the building and at any point in time, there was always one either malfunctioning or not working at all.

9/11

On the day of September 11, 2001 four planes were hijacked in an Airport in New Jersey by four members of Al-Qaeda. Using only box cutters, they killed off the pilots. One of the planes, crashed on the side of the west side of the pentagon killing 125 military personelle and civilians along with 64 passengers riding along the plane. Two planes crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center costing the lives of thousands, leaving 10 people who were in the tower alive and 10,000 left with injuries. The last plane, Flight 93, had crashed in a rural field in Pensylvania killing 44 passengers.

Enron Power Company

In the midst of the new generation, Enron was a power company providing electricity to the country. It was during the early 2000´s that Enron had come up with a strategy to increase profits, but it was very scandalous. The power company had chose to manipulate where power was being sent throughout the nation.The former president of Enron, Jeff Skilling, encrouraged his employees to trade aggresively and take advantage of the state´s wholesale market to boost their own stock prices. They decided to cut off power in the north coast of California, making it so there would be heatwaves hitting the Bay Area all through Los Angeles. These short power outages would increase sales by double since they were trying to compete with the rest of the industries and people were desperate of air conditioning. The fears of rolling blackouts would push large scale companies in California into more than $1 billion in long-term energy contracts. Once the company´s trick was discovered, they were forced to pay their debts, but also would come up with new contracts with other companies.

Gay Marriage in the 2004 Presidential Election

Around the 2004 Presidential Election, gay marriage became legal in Massachusetts, which turned a lot of heads, as Massachusetts is a southern state.

However, Bush's party pushed to get same-sex marriage on the ballots in a lot of Republican states not because they wanted it to be passed, but because they knew that it was an issue that Republicans felt very strongly about, and would get out and vote against it.

In the process, while standing at the ballot, they would potentially vote for Bush. In this way, Bush was able to get a lot of votes that he wouldn't have otherwise because people were too lazy to get out and vote.

How the Housing Market Collapsed - The Financial Crisis

        Before 2008, it seemed that although houses were not cheap, many people could buy a home and take out a mortgage, and that overall, everything would work out. Unfortunately, that was not the case during or after the housing crisis. Clearly, not everyone has a good credit history, so, if everyone is taking out mortgages, it stands to reason that not everybody taking out a mortgage has a good credit history. As long as people can pay back their mortgages, this isn't a problem.

        As long as interest rates stayed low, paying back mortgages wasn't a problem for most people. Of course, there were exceptions, but it seemed that things were going pretty well. However, interest rates rose in 2008, which led to people not being able to pay back their mortgages. Because of this, people defaulted on their debts, which caused housing prices to drop, which caused people to default, and so on. Eventually, houses became cheap, but everyone who already had a house could not afford to pay their mortgage. 

Hurricane Katrina

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes, and experts estimate that Katrina caused more than $100 billion in damage.
One particular city New Orleans, was more affected. As the majority of the city lies below sea level, it easily got submerged by the Hurricane when it was hit and was completely flooded. Although there was an evacuation, the mayor of New Orleans had ordered an evacuation, but it was considered to be too late. Because there was not enough time for the whole city to evacuate, people holed up in their homes or the football stadium and hoped for the best. In the aftermaths of the hurricane a lot of hate was directed toward President Bush for his inadequate response. Bush seemed indifferent - he didn't actually go and visit the people of New Orleans, but instead just flew over it in a comfortable helicopter. FEMA, the department that deals with natural disasters, did not have enough funding due to the war on terrorism, so they were able to do very little. Additionally, as New Orleans was predominantly black, it seemed as if the government was being racist by not helping properly. Katrina proved that the ability of the government to predict problems and deal with them effectively was not strong.

Opposition of Government Involvement

Many people opposed the involvement of the government for saving companies going corrupt. The idea that the government would always be there to bail you out was a message being sent to other companies. This encouraged other companies to take advantage of the lack of regulations. They wanted the companies to take responsibility for their own mistakes, and for the impact, they had on others. An example of this opposition is the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

The 2008 Election

        At the beginning of Obama's campaign, very few people expected him to win the presidency or even the democratic nomination. He was young, inexperienced in politics compared to others - both democrats and republicans, and his campaign did not seem to focus specifically on any important issues. Later in the campaign, however, he became more focused on issues such as healthcare and taxes, and this more focused campaign led to an increase in support. 

        After Obama won the democratic nomination, beating more experienced politicians such as Hillary Clinton, almost all of the democratic candidates who had withdrawn from the race endorsed him. This endorsement from experienced and respected people within the democratic party was also a factor in getting more public support, since it showed that his party believed in him.

        On election night, Obama won almost all the swing states, including Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, and Ohio. This led to his decisive victory, winning 365 electoral votes compared to McCain's 173. While many people were initially skeptical of Obama's ability to become president, his campaign quickly gained the support of both the public and other politicians, leading him to the White House.

President Obama | Before the presidency

A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American to be elected to the presidency. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008. Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. ... In 1988, he enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

Born in Honolulu in 1961, Barack Obama went on to become President of the Harvard Law Review and a U.S. senator representing Illinois. In 2008, he was elected President of the United States, becoming the first African-American commander-in-chief. He served two terms as the 44th president of the United States.

While living with his grandparents, Obama enrolled in the esteemed Punahou Academy, He excelled in basketball and graduated with academic honors in 1979. As one of only three black students at the school, Obama became conscious of racism and what it meant to be African-American. He later described how he struggled to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage with his own sense of self: "I noticed that there was nobody like me in the Sears, Roebuck Christmas catalog. . .and that Santa was a white man," he wrote. "I went into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror with all my senses and limbs seemingly intact, looking as I had always looked, and wondered if something was wrong with me."

Obama also struggled with the absence of his father, who he saw only once more after his parents divorced, when Obama Sr. visited Hawaii for a short time in 1971. "[My father] had left paradise, and nothing that my mother or grandparents told me could obviate that single, unassailable fact," he later reflected. "They couldn't describe what it might have been like had he stayed."

Ten years later, in 1981, tragedy struck Obama Sr. when he lost both of his legs in a serious car accident. Confined to a wheelchair, he also lost his job. In 1982, Obama Sr. was involved in yet another car accident while traveling in Nairobi. This time, however, the crash was fatal. Obama Sr. died on November 24, 1982, when Obama was 21 years old. "At the time of his death, my father remained a myth to me," Obama later wrote, "both more and less than a man."

After high school, Obama studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, graduating in 1983 with a degree in political science. After working in the business sector for two years, Obama moved to Chicago in 1985. There, he worked on the impoverished South Side as a community organizer for low-income residents in the Roseland and the Altgeld Gardens communities.

It was during this time that Obama, who said he "was not raised in a religious household," joined the Trinity United Church of Christ. He also visited relatives in Kenya, and paid an emotional visit to the graves of his biological father and paternal grandfather. "For a long time I sat between the two graves and wept," Obama wrote. "I saw that my life in America—the black life, the white life, the sense of abandonment I'd felt as a boy, the frustration and hope I'd witnessed in Chicago—all of it was connected with this small plot of earth an ocean away."

Returning from Kenya with a sense of renewal, Obama entered Harvard Law School in 1988. The next year, he met with constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe and their discussion so impressed Tribe, that when Obama asked to join his team as a research assistant, the professor agreed. “The better he did at Harvard Law School and the more he impressed people, the more obvious it became that he could have had anything,“ said Professor Tribe in a 2012 interview with Frontline, “but it was clear that he wanted to make a difference to people, to communities.” That same year Obama joined the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin as a summer associate and it was there he met Michelle Robinson, a young lawyer who was assigned to be his adviser. Not long after, the couple began dating. In February 1990, Obama was elected the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law in 1991.

Obama published an autobiography, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, in 1995. The work received high praise from literary figures such as Toni Morrison and has since been printed in more than 25 languages, including Chinese, Swedish and Hebrew. The book had a second printing in 2004 and was adapted for a children's version. The audiobook version of Dreams, narrated by Obama, received a Grammy Award for best spoken word album in 2006.

Obama's advocacy work led him to run for a seat in the Illinois State Senate. He ran as a Democrat and won election in 1996. During his years as a state senator, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans to draft legislation on ethics, as well as expand health care services and early childhood education programs for the poor. He also created a state earned-income tax credit for the working poor. As chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases after a number of death-row inmates were found to be innocent.

Obama's inauguration took place on January 20, 2009. When Obama took office, he inherited a global economic recession, two ongoing foreign wars and the lowest-ever international favorability rating for the United States. He campaigned on an ambitious agenda of financial reform, alternative energy and reinventing education and health care—all while bringing down the national debt. Because these issues were intertwined with the economic well-being of the nation, he believed all would have to be undertaken simultaneously.

During his inauguration speech, Obama summarized the situation by saying, "Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met."

Princess Diana

Born Diana Spencer on July 1, 1961, Princess Diana became Lady Diana Spencer after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975. She married the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, on July 29, 1981. They had two sons and later divorced in 1996. Diana died on August 31, 1997, from injuries she sustained in a car crash in Paris. She is remembered as the "People's Princess" because of her widespread popularity and global humanitarian efforts.

She became Lady Diana Spencer after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer in 1975. Although she was known for her shyness while growing up, she did show an interest in music and dancing. Diana also had a great fondness for children. After attending finishing school at Institut Alpin Videmanette in Switzerland, she moved to London. She began working with children, eventually becoming an assistant at Young England Kindergarten.

As the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles was usually the subject of media attention, and his courtship of Diana was no exception. The press and the public were fascinated by this seemingly odd couple-the reserved, garden-loving prince and the shy young woman with an interest in fashion and popular culture. When the couple married on July 29, 1981, the ceremony was broadcast on television around the world, with millions of people tuning in to see what many considered to be the wedding of the century.

After Diana and Charles divorced in 1996, Diana maintained a high level of popularity. She devoted herself to her sons and to such charitable efforts such as raising awareness about the dangers of leftover landmines in war-torn Angola. She also continued to experience the negative aspects of fame, whipping the British tabloids into a frenzy when she began dating Egyptian film producer and playboy Dodi Fayed in 1997. While visiting Paris, the couple was involved in a car crash after trying to escape from the paparazzi early in the morning of August 31, 1997. Fayed and the driver were pronounced dead at the scene; Diana initially survived the crash, but succumbed to her injuries at a Paris hospital a few hours later.

News of her sudden, senseless death shocked the world. Queen Elizabeth II, who was criticized for not immediately responding publicly to Diana’s death, made a televised address from Buckingham Palace on September 5, in which she said: “No one who knew Diana will ever forget her. Millions of others who never met her, but felt they knew her, will remember her. I, extraordinary and moving reaction to her death. I share in your determination to cherish her memory.”

Seinfeld

Seinfeld is an American sitcom about four single friends - comic Jerry Seinfeld, bungling George costanza, frustrated working gal Elaine Benes and eccentric neighbor Cosmo Kramer -- deal with the absurdities of everyday life in New York City. Seinfeld’s first episode aired on July 5, 1989.

Seinfeld stars Jerry Seinfeld as a stand-up comedian whose life in New York City is made even more chaotic by his quirky group of friends who join him in wrestling with life's most perplexing, yet often trivial questions. Often described as "a show about nothing," Seinfeld mines the humor in life's mundane situations like waiting in line, searching for a lost item, or the trials and tribulations of dating. Co-starring are Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Jerry's ex-girlfriend and current platonic pal, Elaine Benes; Jason Alexander as George Costanza, Jerry's neurotic hard-luck best friend; and Michael Richards as Jerry's eccentric neighbor, Kramer.

Seinfeld is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms of all-time. It has been ranked among the best television shows of all time in publications such as Entertainment Weekly,[2] Rolling Stone,[3] and TV Guide.[4][5]The show's most renowned episodes include "The Chinese Restaurant", "The Parking Garage",[6] and "The Contest".[7]In 2013, the Writers Guild of America voted it the No. 2 Best Written TV Series of All Time (second to The Sopranos).[8] E!named the series the "Number 1 reason the '90s ruled",[9]and quotes from numerous episodes have become catchphrases in popular culture.Seinfeld’s last episode aired on May 14, 1998.

Friends

The first episode of the show Friends premiered on September 22, 1994, and was seen by nearly 22 million people. The initial seven-page pitch for the show, which was created less than a year earlier, named the series “Insomnia Cafe.” The title evolved to “Six of One,” then “Friends Like Us,” and eventually to the name we all know and love today: “Friends.”

Each cast member was paid 22,500 dollars per episode in the first season. However, those numbers would grow significantly as the show went on. Friends was a hit from the start, but it gained popularity over the years - with the exception of slight slump in the ratings around seasons five to seven.

From the first season to the last, the show and its cast and crew were nominated and won several awards, including 62 Primetime Emmy nominations with 6 wins and 10 Golden Globe Award nominations with one win.

The Friends finale, which aired May 6, 2004, had 52.46 million viewers, making it one of the most watched final episodes of a TV series in history. However, that actually isn’t the most watched Friends episode of of all time. The episode after the 1996 Super Bowl garnered 52.9 million viewers.

Today, all 6 of them still receive 2% of syndication income, or 20 million dollars each per year, since the show still brings in 1 billion dollars annually for Warner Brothers. Plus, now that the Netflix deal is going through, Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry and Schwimmer can expect to see even more on their checks from Warner.

Rodney King

Born in Sacramento, California, on April 2, 1965, Rodney King was caught by the Los Angeles police after a high-speed chase on March 3, 1991. The officers pulled him out of the car and beat him brutally, while amateur cameraman George Holliday caught it all on videotape. The four L.A.P.D. officers involved were indicted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force by a police officer. However, after a three-month trial, a predominantly white jury acquitted the officers, inflaming citizens and sparking the violent 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Two decades after the riots, King told CNN that he had forgiven the officers. King was found dead in his swimming pool on June 17, 2012, in Rialto, California, at the age of 47.

On the third day of the riots, King made a public appearance, making his now famous plea: "People, I just want to say, can't we all get along? Can't we all get along?"

The United States Department of Justice filed federal civil rights charges against the four officers, and in August of 1992, two of them were found guilty while the other two were acquitted. King was eventually awarded $3.8 million in a civil trial for the injuries he sustained.

More than two decades after being brutally beaten by police officers, in May 2012, King discussed the incident with The Guardian, stating, "It's not painful to relive it. I'm comfortable with my position in American history. It was like being raped, stripped of everything, being beaten near to death there on the concrete, on the asphalt. I just knew how it felt to be a slave. I felt like I was in another world."

He went on to talk about his healing process, which included forgiving the officers who injured him. "I had to learn to forgive," he said. "I couldn't sleep at night. I got ulcers. I had to let go, to let God deal with it. No one wants to be mad in their own house. I didn't want to be angry for my whole life. It takes so much energy out of you to be mean."

AIG

AIG was a global insurance company with around $1 trillion in assets prior to their crisis. In 2008 they lost around $99.2 billion The company would have completely collapsed without bail from the government. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York decided to save the company with a loan of $85 billion because if the company failed the entire economy would be weakened. The involvement of AIG was too great, as it offered credit default swaps. This gave other banks security when they gave a risky loan. When the company began to fail, they did not have any money to give the other banks. The company was too interconnected with the economy and required assistance from the government.

Anti-Obama Propaganda

As Obama popped up in the pool of potential Democratic candidates, he was a fresh face in politics. With his last name sounding similar to "Osama" and his visions for change in the US, many saw him as an alien figure that did not belong in the presidential race.

There was a lot of propaganda regarding Obama created by people who did not want to see him as their president, much of it portraying him as a terrorist and making comparisons to Hitler.



This propaganda was powerful in deterring potential voters from voting for Obama by using fake rumors and conspiracies about him. While most of it seems ridiculous and obviously false, there were, in fact, people who believed it. Anti-Obama propaganda is a strong example of opponents taking drastic measures to bring someone down.