Politics
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GOP Selects a Nearly All-Male Slate of Committee Chairs for the 114th Congress
This week, Republicans released the names of the representatives who will chair House committees in the upcoming 114th Congress, starting in January. That nearly all of the new chairmen selected are exactly that—men—is not a particularly good look, given that the GOP doesn’t have a great rep when it comes to supporting women’s issues. “Notably,…
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Will the New Black Republicans in Congress Be Lawmakers—or Talk Show Hosts?
With all the postelection buzz about historic firsts and trailblazing black Republicans crashing Congress, you’d think this was the first time conservatives of color would be stepping foot on the floor of the House of Representatives. As a matter of fact, it’s not. Yet as three black Republicans found themselves elected Nov. 4 in a…
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Affordable Care Act Open Enrollment Begins Again Saturday
On Saturday, Americans can start buying health care coverage for 2015, or renew their old plans, when HealthCare.gov opens its portals once again. The marketplace will boast 77 new health insurers for consumers to pick from beginning Nov. 15 through Feb. 15, 2015. Of course, the administration is targeting those Americans who are still uninsured,…
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Historic Head Nod: 100 Women Now Serve in Congress
Lost in all the bickering among Democrats and Republicans about the midterm elections—the latter rejoicing and the former reminding everyone that approximately two-thirds of the electorate didn’t vote—is the historic makeup of Congress with regard to its female members. On Wednesday Rep. Alma Adams, who now represents North Carolina’s 12th Congressional District, was sworn into office…
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Want to Improve Voter Turnout? Abolish Voter Registration. No, Really!
It’s your right to vote. So why does our society seem not to want you to use it? Two-thirds of eligible voters did not vote in this year’s midterm elections. It was the lowest electoral turnout since World War II—a time when most black people couldn’t even vote because of Jim Crow laws and because…
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Senate GOP Now Has a Majority. It Shouldn’t Stand in the Way of Judicial Diversity
After a hugely consequential election, the Senate returns today to complete the work of the 113th Congress. With more than 90 vacancies in the federal judiciary, confirmations of federal judicial nominees should be a top priority. And it’s important to note that of the 34 nominees pending before the Senate, nine are African American. The Senate…
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Rep. Charles Rangel: ‘White Cracker’ a Term of Endearment
A little over a year ago, New York Rep. Charles Rangel caught some flak after a Daily Beast interview during which he compared the Tea Party to “the same group we faced in the South with those white crackers and the dogs and the police” in the Jim Crow era. On Monday, however, sitting down…
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President Obama Wants Open Internet; Here Is What That Means
Who knew that the slow Internet service some people experience from time to time on certain Web pages might be intentional? It’s also a bit of a political issue. Here’s how: Internet service providers—take Verizon, for instance—could charge money to content providers to decide which services get streamed fastest to certain customers, but that would mean that other…
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Former Mississippi Governor Apologizes for Calling Obama’s Policies ‘Tar Babies’
When former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour called President Barack Obama’s policies “tar babies” during a conference call with clients of his lobbying group, he said he meant to convey the difficulty of the issues faced. That’s what the former governor told Politico in an email responding to questions about the comment, which some consider a…
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Loretta Lynch Is a Fearless Prosecutor—She Might Be Just Who Obama Needs at DOJ
The nomination of Loretta Lynch as the next attorney general of the United States perhaps displays as much presidential deftness as it does defiance. Clearly, in the wake of last week’s election, President Barack Obama wants to show some. And while some observers assume that Lynch will have a relatively straightforward Senate confirmation, since she’s…