Politics
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3 Years Later, the Ghosts of Shelby Still Haunt Us
Three years ago, the Supreme Court handed down a crushing ruling in the landmark case Shelby v. Holder (pdf). For reasons still mostly unclear to me (Chief Justice John Roberts partially opined that key provisions of the Voting Rights Act were “extraordinary measures” no longer needed because America’s legacy on race “had changed”), Section 5 of the…
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Election 2016: Do Black Lives Matter to 3rd-Party Options?
On June 22, I attended CNN’s Libertarian Party town hall featuring Govs. Gary Johnson and Bell Weld. I was hesitant to attend because I am exhausted by this election. Chatter that privileges certain voices, monetizes certain platforms and disparages those who can recognize the bulls—t is the white noise that my black ears refuse. Black…
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Explainer: How a Racist, Anti-Immigrant Campaign Caused ‘Brexit’
The last 72 hours have been a whirlwind of news in the United States—Supreme Court rulings, the Freddie Gray case and the Democrats’ House of Representatives sit-in for starters. Across the pond, however, there was a vote that not only is horribly instructive for what could happen in America this fall but, worse, could also…
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‘Enough Is Enough’: House Dems Stage Sit-in on Floor of Congress Over Guns
At noon Wednesday, members of the House shut it down—all the way down. In a historic act of protest, Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives refused to observe the regular order of the House, staging a sit-in protest over the lack of legislation on gun control. The protest Wednesday occurred after House Republicans…
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Omarosa Manigault Is in Donald Trump's Army, but Who Is She Fighting For?
On Tuesday, a typical, but no less still unnecessarily combative, Omarosa Manigault spoke with MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts about her role in the orgy of audacious idiocy and political amateurism known as the Donald J. Trump for President campaign. As Omarosa spoke very seriously about an unserious person, I noticed that she was listed as the…
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Michelle Obama’s Advice for Women: ‘Get to Know Ourselves’
Woman, know thyself. That was the advice first lady Michelle Obama had for women as she spoke with Oprah Winfrey during the White House’s first United State of Women summit this week. During an afternoon session at the Washington Convention Center, Oprah Winfrey talked to the first lady about issues of self-esteem, saying, “I’ve interviewed thousands…
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Weiner: The Saddest Sex Scandal of Them All
With a name like Anthony Weiner, a sex scandal was bound to happen. At least that was the reaction of most Americans to the Weiner sex debacle in 2011 when New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner came to national attention as the center of America’s first social media sex scandal. However, in the new Sundance…
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‘1st Gay President’? No. But Is Barack Obama an LGBT Ally? A Resounding Yes
Far too often, we are collectively thrilled with people conveying basic human decency or, in other cases, simply acknowledging the marginalized in ways typically not done by anyone who is a part of the majority. When I was a child, of all things I remember about Bill Clinton, one that sticks out most is this…