Claim: President Obama issued an executive order to replace the U.S. flag with one of a more “progressive and diverse” design.

FALSE

Example: [Collected via e-mail, January 2014]



Is there any truth to the executive order issued by the President about a new red, green and yellow American Flag? Is there any truth to the executive order issued by the President about a new red, green and yellow American Flag?

Origins: On 12 November 2012, just after President Barack Obama won re-election for a second term as President, the Daily Currant published an article positing that the chief executive had held a press conference to announce his issuance of a executive order to replace the U.S. flag with one of a new design (as shown above)





President Barack Obama introduced a new flag today for the United States of America. President Barack Obama introduced a new flag today for the United States of America. At a press conference in Washington, D.C. the recently reelected socialist declared that he had issued an executive order replacing the traditional stars-and-stripes with a new design intended to be more “progressive and diverse.” The brand new American flag features a green and red color scheme, meant to symbolize Islam and Socialism, respectively. The red portion sports a Soviet hammer and sickle and six French fleur-de-lys, representing the six “important states” of California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Hawaii. The green section features the phrase “People’s Republic of America'” written in Arabic. Just above the script is a marijuana leaf celebrating America’s drug culture.





By the end of the day (and again in January 2014) links and excerpts referencing this article were being circulated via social media, with many of those who encountered it mistaking it for a genuine news item. However, the article was just a bit of political humor from the Daily Currant, whose “About” page notes that the web site deals strictly in satire:





The Daily Currant is an English language online satirical newspaper that covers global politics, business, technology, entertainment, science, health and media. The Daily Currant is an English language online satirical newspaper that covers global politics, business, technology, entertainment, science, health and media. Q. Are your news stories real? A. No. Our stories are purely fictional. However they are meant to address real-world issues through satire and often refer and link to real events happening in the world.



