Politics
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President Obama Optimistic About 2014
During his annual year-end news conference on Friday, President Barack Obama said goodbye to a tumultuous year and expressed hope that the growing economy would continue to create new jobs and that his health care program would continue to improve, the Associated Press reports. He said 2014 would be “a breakthrough year for America.” Obama…
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Black Christmas: What the Budget Deal Means for African Americans
Republicans and Democrats in Congress are patting their backs as if simply doing their job deserves a gratuity. Their budget deal, passed by the Senate on Wednesday, has now gone to the president’s desk for signing. But though this moment may represent a temporary cease-fire of Republican obstructionism, the Ayn Rand-ian principles that have guided…
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Al Sharpton in Chicago: Some Hope Among the Skepticism
The day before a planned town hall meeting in Chicago to be hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton, an activist in Roseland, one of the city’s deadliest communities, expressed hope that Sharpton could help stanch the flow of blood of young black males. “I’m glad Al Sharpton’s here,” Diane Latiker, founder of Kids Off…
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Obama’s Brother Is Self-Publishing an Autobiography to Set the Record Straight
President Barack Obama’s half-brother is self-publishing an autobiography detailing the abuse his mother suffered at the hands of their father, the Associated Press reports. Mark Obama Ndesandjo is the son of Barack Obama Sr. and his third wife, Ruth Ndesandjo, a Jewish American woman. The book, Cultures: My Odyssey of Self-Discovery, will also address Ndesandjo’s…
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Dennis Rodman Back in North Korea to Plan Kim Jong Un’s Birthday Exhibition Game
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman is still BFFs with North Korea’s “dear leader,” Kim Jong Un. He’s even planning a Jan. 8 exhibition game with 12 other ex-NBA players in Pyongyang for Kim’s birthday, the Associated Press reports. Rodman’s visit comes almost a week after North Korea announced the execution of the “traitor of all ages,”…
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Black Power Activists Accused Government of Spying, but They Weren’t Called Heroes
Perhaps we’ve got our definitions of “hero” twisted, but I have yet to hear a convincing take on what makes Edward Snowden one. Ultimately, this cat is not the post-modern neo-geek who hacktivists and fake libertarians profess him to be. All I’m picking up is yet another middle-class Caucasian kid road-tripping the globe—putting our international…
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Black Legislators Want Your Voting Rights Back
When Rep. Alicia Reece—a Democrat representing Cincinnati in the Ohio state legislature—hears people say the next big political event in the Buckeye State won’t materialize until the 2016 presidential election is underway, she wonders what political planet they inhabit. In 2012, Reece saw conservative political operatives erect a billboard in her neighborhood that claimed to…
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Obama Includes LGBT Athletes in Olympic Delegation
Renowned tennis player Billie Jean King and hockey player Caitlin Cahow are the two openly gay athletes whom President Barack Obama has selected to be part of the U.S. delegation for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, sending a clear message to that country about its treatment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and…
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NYC Mayor Blames God for Homeless Girl’s Plight Instead of His Policies
Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be in his last few weeks as New York City’s mayor, but he sure is finishing his tenure with a bang. Today it was reported that when asked for his reaction to the harrowing New York Times series on a little homeless girl named Dasani, he replied, “This kid was dealt…
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Tulane Student Youngest Member of Mississippi House of Representatives
As a sophomore at Moss Point High School in Mississippi, Jeramey Anderson became interested in politics, and it’s a good thing, considering that those years in high school prepped him to become Mississippi’s youngest legislator, at age 22. Anderson is a senior at Tulane University’s Gulf Coast campus in Biloxi, Miss., where he studies homeland…