culture

It is not what she most wanted, but it was the best of the rest. Hillary Clinton went before her colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this morning as the Senate began confirmation hearings on her appointment to be Secretary of State. “”America cannot solve the most pressing problems on our own, and the…

“Joe the Correspondent” Wurzelbacher is in Israel, “covering” the conflict in the Gaza strip, which is a big plus for a news hungry public because up to this point, it was hard to get any information about the ongoing violence—because it was only being covered by The Washington Post, The New York Times, Haaretz, The…

So, how long exactly does it take to release or transfer the 248 prisoners still remaining in Guantanamo? According to Obama’s transition team, the process will take several months. Some experts anticipate that closing the detention camp will take as much as a year to complete. Meanwhile, the international community is up in arms. Organizations like the…

As Washington prepares for the inauguration of Barack Obama, security is certainly a concern. But there is confidence that he and his family will be well-protected. Elsewhere in the country, and far from the lead of the evening news, investigations continue into the shootings of black men by police. You can see Oscar Grant III’s death…

Reversing course, Senate Democrats grudgingly accepted embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s hand-selected Senate appointee, Roland Burris, as they sought to break an impasse over President-elect Barack Obama’s former seat. The new Illinois senator is expected to be sworn into office later this week. With his typical ‘confidence’ Burris said yesterday: “I really never doubted that…

Rickey Henderson’s on and off the field flair—more Babe Ruth and Willie Mays than Joe DiMaggio or Hank Aaron—won’t win him any popularity contests among the conservative baseball press. But it’s still a travesty that he will be announced as a new Hall of Fame inductee today without a unanimous selection. Every year, at least…

It was all there today — the introspection, the cluelessness, the smirkiness, the defiance, the sense of humor, the surprising humility. When George Bush said goodbye for the last time to the White House press corps this morning, he refelcted on everything from the ‘Mission Accomplished’ to Katrina to the failure to find weapons of…

In the months leading up to the presidential election, much was made about the size of the crowds and the energy level at Obama rallies. For clues, some looked to the Obama playlist—the songs that served as the soundtrack for those frenzied events. True to his overall political strategy, Obama’s playlist cut across various popular…

We are all hungry for every minute detail about the Obamas; we’ve read all about Michelle Obama’s trendsetting style, her choice of dresses, the flip of her hair. But my main focus so far has been on Malia. Her hair, to be specific. On her first day at Sidwell Friends School, 10-year-old Malia seemed to…