Good morning! Today is National Bird Day — do with that what you will.

On this date in 1914, Henry Ford introduced an eight-hour workday, and announced that his workers would receive a “living wage” of at least five dollars per day. While Ford is often touted as a pioneer of progressive capitalism, he also railed against unions and the menace of “international Jewry,” and his pay raise came with a catch — Ford demanded that employees lead a “wholesome” life, and guaranteed they did with frequent and invasive interrogations into the most intimate details of their lives. 

Stat of the day: Three million — the number of new jobs that may have been added to the US economy in 2014 — the most since 1999, according to MarketWatch.

The FBI is racially profiling…the FBI –> Eric Schmitt reports for the NYT that foreign-born FBI linguists are being subjected “to an aggressive internal surveillance program that started after Sept. 11, 2001… [and] has been greatly expanded since then.” The linguists say they are being discriminated against, and claim that the surveillance program “limits their assignments and stalls their careers.” MEANWHILE: According to Britain’s The Telegraph, the UK government is considering an anti-terror plan that would include requiring “nursery school staff and registered childminders” to “report toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists.”

Uprising –> Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) — one of the more reactionary members of the GOP caucus, infamous for warning that “terror babies” were flooding over the Mexican border — announced on Sunday that he is challenging John Boehner for the post of Speaker of the House. Kyle Balluck reports for The Hill that his long-shot candidacy is indicative of the tea party’s displeasure with Boehner’s deal-making.

The other epic drought –> While California hopes that an El Niño weather system will provide some relief from its devastating dry spell, Sue Neales reports for The Australian that large swaths of the outback are suffering from a drought “that is now so catastrophic it has been ­officially classified a one-in-100-year occurrence.” She adds: “There has been virtually no rain for three years.”

Fast-food nation –> Salon’s Thomas Frank writes about just “how much effort has gone into keeping fast-food pay so low, despite the enormous profits raked in by the chains.” He adds: “the conditions of employment have been engineered almost as carefully as the brands and the burgers.”

Tough road –> At The Atlantic, Josh Kraushaar looks at the Democrats’ “narrow path” to winning back control of the Senate in 2016. AND: Vox’s Dylan Matthews points out that across the 2010, 2012 and 2014 elections, the 46 Democrats in the new Senate (including two independents who caucus with the Democrats) earned 20 million more votes than the chamber’s 54 Republicans.

“Playing dumb” –> Science historian and author Naomi Oreskes argues in the NYT that climatologists are being far too conservative in their warnings about the potentially catastrophic impacts of global warming. AND: In the WaPo, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers argues that the lowest oil prices in years provide a perfect opportunity to enact a carbon tax without slowing the economy.

Dodgy numbers –> At ThinkProgress, Emily Atkin takes Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) to task for continuing to claim that the State Department says that the Keystone XL pipeline would create 42,000 American jobs. The reality, according to the State Department, is that the pipeline would result in 35 permanent, full-time jobs and another 15 contract positions. During construction, the project would also generate several thousand temporary jobs.

One way to avoid discrimination –> A group of Florida clerks are so opposed to marrying same-sex couples that they will no longer perform any courthouse marriages, according to Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern.

Biblical –> Archaeologists in Jerusalem believe they may have uncovered the ancient prison where Jesus was tried by Pontius Pilate, but WaPo’s Ruth Eglash reports that some religious leaders believe the site doesn’t match descriptions found in the Bible.

It’s the end of the world as we know it… –> The BBC offers an “infographic guide to Doomsday threats.”

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