Politics
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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…
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Loretta Lynch: 5 Things to Know About the Next Attorney General
With official word from the White House, Loretta Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, is the nominee to replace outgoing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Pending confirmation by the Senate, Lynch, 55, she will become the first African-American woman to be named U.S. attorney general. Described as a low-profile prosecutor, she…
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Obama Will Play Nice With GOP but Won’t Budge on His Plans to Reform Immigration
Now that the guessing game is over and everyone’s cards are on the table, President Obama has outlined the facets of his agenda that he’s willing to compromise with the Republicans on, and the one issue he’s not budging on: immigration. “In a sign of how he intends to govern under a new political order with ascendant…
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Some Beneficiaries of Obamacare Still Voted for Republicans Who Are Against It
Democrats who accuse low-income Republicans of voting against their own interests may be on to something. A New York Times report notes that Republicans who became insured and benefited the most under the Affordable Care Act—dubbed Obamacare—elected Republicans to their state and federal legislatures who do not support the measure. “Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia—states…