Politics

  • CBC Week: Don’t Think Congress Can Get Any Worse? Think Again

    It’s looking rough out there—politically, that is. President Barack Obama’s approval ratings are at 46 percent. Congress’ are worse. Both ratings, and the general feeling of malaise, are attributable to the inability to get anything done in Washington, D.C., and the myriad troubles abroad. Meaning, it’s sometimes a bit more pleasant to fantasize about what…

  • Obama Mentions Ferguson in Address to the UN General Assembly

    In remarks prepared for the United Nations General Assembly, President Barack Obama referenced the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., as one of the nation’s shortcomings as it grapples with racial and ethnic tensions. In his speech on Wednesday, the president called for leadership in dealing with the current conflict between Israel and Palestine, as well as…

  • White House Intruders: Remembering Miriam Carey and How She Died

    On Saturday a 19-year-old New Jersey man was arrested after he tried to drive past a barricaded entrance to the White House and refused to stop. And in an unprecedented security breach Friday evening, a 42-year-old Texas man jumped a fence and ran to the North Portico and entered the White House through an unlocked…

  • Obama Launches Campaign to Prevent Sexual Assault on College Campuses

    With violence against women at the forefront of a national conversation, the Obama administration launched a new initiative that it hopes will reduce the number of sexual assault incidents that take place on college campuses, Al-Jazeera reports. The It’s on Us campaign “seeks to engage college students and all members of campus communities in preventing sexual…

  • Obama Backs Secret Service Amid 2 Security Breaches

    President Barack Obama expressed confidence in the agency charged with keeping him and his family safe Saturday after a man with a knife climbed a fence and made it into the White House before being apprehended, the Associated Press reports. It was the second such security breach in as many days. “The president has full…

  • Hillary Clinton’s Iowa Visit Spurs Speculation About a 2016 Presidential Run

    Hillary Clinton has some political observers in a frenzy of excitement about her appearance on Sunday at a Democratic fundraising event in Iowa. It was an annual shindig organized by the state’s Democratic party, but folks are speculating that the former secretary of state is laying the groundwork for a 2016 presidential run, especially since Iowa’s Democrats will be the…

  • Why More Black Americans Should Run for Elected Office

    On Labor Day in Milwaukee, President Barack Obama gave a rousing speech to supporters in which he accused Republicans of playing political games instead of helping American families. When the crowd started to boo, the president leaned on a quip from his 2012 re-election campaign: “Don’t boo. Vote!” It’s a familiar sentiment, particularly in the…

  • How Africans Could Determine the Fate of Scottish Independence

    This Thursday, 4 million people in Scotland will vote in a referendum on whether to end its 307-year political union with England. Final opinion polls show the result on a knife edge, with a remarkable 97 percent of the electorate registered to vote. Among the many communities energized by the debate are 37,000 Scottish residents…

  • Climate Activists Warn Obama About His Pro-Gas Views

    Even though President Barack Obama has been getting tough on power plants to push them to cut back on their carbon dioxide emissions, his administration supports the extraction of natural gas, and environmental groups are warning him to fix that blemish on his climate legacy, Al-Jazeera reports. Climate experts are saying that contrary to the Obama administration’s…

  • Dems Roll Out New 7-Figure Ad Campaign Ahead of Midterms

    Reminding people to vote costs money. And to that end, the Democratic National Committee is spending a pretty penny—seven figures’ worth—on a national media campaign to get the word out that there is indeed a midterm election coming up and that blacks, Latinos, women, Asians and young Americans—all of whom show up to vote much…