-
Why Retiring Lawmakers are Good For America
A Connecticut senator is doing what’s best for America and his party. And it’s not Joe Lieberman. Chris Dodd, a five-term senator from Connecticut, will not stand for reelection this November. Chris Cilizza at The Fix has the scoop: Dodd’s retirement comes roughly two years after his presidential ambitions came to an end in the…
-
Headlines for 2010: Part II
The year 2010 is just a few days old, but already promises to be full of drama. Here are my predictions for the political headlines of the year to come. If they don’t come true, don’t hate! READ PREDICTIONS 1-5 HERE. 6. The American Backlash Abroad The “aughts” were defined by a radical restructuring of…
-
The Patriot Act of the Sky
In response to Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab’s Christmas Day attempt to down an airliner headed from Amsterdam to Detroit, the US Transportation Safety Administration is implementing a new system of passenger screening based on national origin: Citizens of Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria, countries that are considered “state sponsors of terrorism,” as well as those…
-
Headlines for 2010: Part I
Even after crumpling up and trashing the foil and paper that once covered the “aughts,” the instinct to look back is hard to fight. There was war and peace, great music, movies and art, sweeping political victories and bad news for black America. Yet we have to let it go; the newest decade—the “tweens,” let’s…
-
Obama Acknowledges “Systemic Failure” on Terror Suspect
In his second official statement regarding the failed Christmas Day terror bombing aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, President Barack Obama acknowledged “systemic failure” in the nation’s response to this particular threat. He added that American security forces need to act quickly to fix the flaws in the system. Taking no questions,…
-
A New Terror Threat?
On Christmas Day, a clatter, a puff of smoke and a brief, terrifying flame: Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, had allegedly tried to blow up his airplane. Others aboard the airliner quickly subdued the man, a former University College of London student who…
-
Health Care Reform: The Political Surprise of the Year?
In the wee hours of Christmas Eve, the United States Senate passed a health care reform bill—an achievement that, despite the months of controversy that preceded its passage, hasn’t been done, ever before. President Obama, rarely one to miss the historic nature of any political act, cheered the bill’s passage in remarks made just before…
-
T’was the Night Before Health Care…
The imminent passage of health care in the Senate comes at the same time that black Americans in Congress and elsewhere have expressed disappointment that President Obama has not been addressing the needs of communities of color. Black neighborhoods have been hit particularly hard by the foreclosure crisis and the ongoing job and credit crunch.…
-
Why Democrats Deserve a Pat on the Back for The Health Care Bill
The Senate has voted to vote on health care reform. Reactions to the series of late-night, last-minute votes that should, if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has his way, result in that chamber’s passage of a health care reform bill by Christmas Day, has been mixed. On the one hand, progressives are mad (really mad)…
-
The Ties That Bind: Copenhagen Climate Accord Targets Global Warming
Well, he didn’t leave Denmark empty-handed. After 14 hours of frenzied followup to two weeks of negotiation geared at creating a substantive plan to confront the threat of global climate change, president Barack Obama announced a comprehensive agreement between some of the world’s major polluters, including the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa.…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
