Politics
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Africa? What Africa? Donald Trump Barely Mentions Entire Continent During Foreign Policy Speech
Donald Trump gave his first official foreign policy speech in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and reminded Americans that his understanding of world affairs is just short of a “Street Fighter” world map. To Trump the world is a brightly colored, dangerous place full of bad guys whom Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have ignored, coddled…
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Supreme Court Is Poised to Give a Corrupt White Politician a Pass, so Why Can’t Black Pols Catch a Break?
Corrupt white politicians facing jail time never had it so good, right? One of the funny but rather glaring and subtly white-privilege things we’ve seen in media coverage of former Gov. Bob McDonnell’s (R-Va.) corruption trial, and the unveiling of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) slimy conviction in a case linked to allegations of…
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In Md., 3 Races Put National Black Politics to the Test
While all eyes were on the predictable results unfolding from Tuesday’s so-called Acela primaries, three major statewide, congressional and local races quietly unfolded that redefined the trajectory of modern African-American politics … at least for the foreseeable future. Tuesday started off with much hope that Maryland—home to one of the nation’s more powerful hubs of…
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Catherine Pugh Wins Democratic Primary in Baltimore’s Mayoral Race; DeRay Mckesson Comes in 6th
Baltimore’s mayoral primary race was so close this year that as celebration music blared and people danced at former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon’s headquarters, actual Democratic mayoral nominee Catherine Pugh was giving her victory speech. Dixon’s campaign headquarters were still waiting for the final results because the tally was so close. On the Democratic side, Pugh…
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#NeverTrump Is Losing the War Against America’s True Face
When I was young and naive, I loved a man so hard that his flaws disappeared when he smiled. Human nature assured me that he wasn’t perfect, but damn it, you couldn’t tell me he wasn’t one of the greatest men in the world. To my surprise, not everyone shared this opinion of him. When…
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What’s the Sound of 2 Campaigns Flopping? Kasich and Cruz Team Up to Stop Trump
Not all collaborations are created equal. When Run-DMC and Aerosmith came together to make “Walk This Way” in 1984, it transformed rap and rock worlds for the better. When Jay Z and R. Kelly started their Best of Both Worlds tour in 2004, it seemed like a good idea at the time, even if it…
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Candidate for Pa. Attorney General Uses Footage of Black Misery to Win Votes
You have to give them credit. After some initial stumbling last summer, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have upped their pandering game for black votes to epic levels. While secret stashes of hot sauce in the purse may seem over-the-top, black voters have come to expect white Democrats to do a certain amount of catering…
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The Politics of Prince
The world is still in shock at the passing of Prince, one of the greatest musical artists in American history. Prince was an entertainer, an icon (at one point a symbol), but even more importantly, he was an explicitly political artist in how he presented himself, his music and his quest for creative independence. While…
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Affordable Care Act Remains a Defining Moment in Obama’s Presidency
So many presidents tried it. From Harry S. Truman to Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton. Some say as many as seven presidents attempted to pass some form of national health care with few results, often stymied by the notion that social welfare should be left up to the states. But Barack Obama, in his first…
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Bye, Felicia: A Sliding Scale of Who Should Drop Out After NY Primary
The New York presidential primary was the return of the inevitable. For weeks the popular press narrative was that the races for the party nominations were getting close. Ted Cruz was mathematically gaining on Donald Trump on the Republican side, and Bernie Sanders was closing the gap with Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side. However,…