Politics
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Long Live the Chairman: On This Day in 1969, the FBI and Chicago Police Assassinated Black Panther Fred Hampton
Dec. 4, 1969—48 years ago today—police officers from the Cook County, Ill., State Attorney’s Office, in collusion with the FBI, assassinated Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, and Black Panther Party leader Mark Clark. Hampton and Clark were 21 and 22 years old, respectively. At approximately 4:45 a.m., 14…
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Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State Would Only Make Trump’s Anti-Muslim Rhetoric Even Worse
Last week the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump plans to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, although Tillerson and Trump deny the reports. Pompeo would be a troubling choice as the nation’s top diplomat. His hawkish views on Islam are more likely to enable Trump’s Muslim-hating rhetoric,…
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Cleveland Finds Out This Week if It Made History by Electing 1st Muslim to City Council
It is strange to still hear about political “firsts” in 2017. The immediate reaction is often, “How did it take this long for [fill-in-the-blank] to happen?” Last month’s elections created about half-a-dozen significant political firsts in municipal and statewide elections that ranged from totally unexpected to “Wait, that just happened for the first time?” A…
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Of Course Roy Moore Is Mad About Felon Voters. Suppressing Black Votes Was a Function of Alabama’s Constitution
The enfranchisement of thousands of felons in Alabama could swing the state’s crucial Senate election Dec. 12 in favor of Democrat Doug Jones—and accused sexual assaulter of underage girls, and Republican Senate nominee, Roy Moore does not like this turn of events. On Wednesday, Moore tweeted: Unsurprisingly, his tweet expresses a negative perspective toward voter…
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Michael Flynn Releases Statement After Pleading Guilty to Lying to the FBI; James Comey Responds With Epic Subtweet
Updated Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, 1:03 p.m. EST: After pleading guilty Friday to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Michael Flynn released the following statement accepting responsibility for his actions: Statement by Lt. General Michael T. Flynn (Ret.) After over 33 years of military service to our country,…
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How Obama’s ‘Worst Mistake’ Led to the Libyan Slave Trade
When CNN broke the story several weeks ago that slavery—not wage slavery, not emotional slavery, not virtual slavery, but actual whips-and-chains-forced labor slavery—was alive and well in the North African nation of Libya, Americans finally started to take notice. Sort of. While there has been some reporting on the issue and a few statements from…
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Watch: Little Miss Flint: ‘The President Is A Bully And A Liar’
The Root spent a day with 10-year-old Mari Copeny, also known as Little Miss Flint, to discuss her activism and why she’s not going to rest until her hometown of Flint, Mich., has clean drinking water. She had some sharp words for Donald Trump, too.
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My Interview With Donald Trump’s New Favorite British Xenophobe
Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of far-right political party Britain First, told me that Donald Trump gave her and her party a much-needed morality boost. Fransen was virtually unknown outside of Britain (and, arguably, inside Britain) before the president retweeted three of her anti-Muslim tweets of unverified videos supposedly depicting Muslims attacking people on the streets.…
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When Will Donald Trump Say the N-Word?
It’s going to make your eyes water. It’s going to stink. You’re going to get the bubble guts when it happens. Like an opponent with the big joker, Taco Bell diarrhea or a butt-whipping after you dared ask a black mother for name-brand cereal in the supermarket, we all know it’s coming; we just don’t…
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Amid Mounting Allegations of Sexual Misconduct, Black Caucus Members Seek Conyers’ Resignation
As allegations of sexual misconduct against veteran Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) continue to mount, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are looking to get him to resign from the House of Representatives. Conyers is the longest currently serving member of the House, and as such, the CBC members are looking for a way to ease…