Politics

(The Root) — Five. That is the number of communities with whom President Obama said he has grieved over mass violence during his time as president. The speech he delivered on Sunday was to 4,000 people who gathered to honor the lives of the 12 men and women killed at the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard…

(The Root) — “We will not negotiate over whether or not America should keep its word and meet its obligations,” President Barack Obama said on Saturday night during the dinner at the close of the 43rd Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative conference. “We’re not going to allow anyone to inflict economic pain on millions…

(The Root) — The Republican Party is engaged in class warfare against poor and middle-class white Americans. It is a little-discussed fact but an ironic one worth noting, since those are the very same people who elect them. This week, House Republicans passed a nutrition bill that eliminates $39 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance…

(The Root) — This week in the nation’s capital, 12 innocent people were massacred as a crazed gunman used a Remington 12-gauge shotgun to rain down terror upon a lobby of unsuspecting Navy yard employees who were having breakfast and beginning their day. This is the face of freedom and Second Amendment rights in America’s…

Another mass shooting, another call from President Obama for lawmakers to modify gun control laws. Monday’s mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, in which 13 people were killed, has once again put Obama on the counteroffensive. The Washington Post reports that in an interview with Telemundo, the president spoke about more rigorous background checks.…

(The Root) — How do you solve a problem like Larry Summers? (Taking a page from The Sound of Music — just pretend you’re too young to have seen this.) The economist has been the big man on campus, having served from 2001 to 2006 as Harvard University’s president, and now a top professor at…

(The Root) — It’s hard to remember a time when Anthony Weiner was anything less than a punch line, let alone when he was viewed as downright heroic, but it really wasn’t that long ago. In 2005 Weiner, then a congressman, was considered a rising star in Democratic politics. He was also a leading Democratic…

(The Root) — What does the U.S. have in common with Blanche DuBois, the crazed heroine of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire? They both depend on the kindness of strangers. We depend on China and other nations to subsidize our huge deficits, allowing us to mount costly forays into the Middle East while not…

Writing at RH Reality Check, Imani Gandy says that the NAACP should choose a black woman well-versed in feminism (or womanism) and reproductive-justice advocacy to replace outgoing President and CEO Ben Jealous. A black feminist could help raise gender consciousness in the organization and in the black community, she argues, and address the gulf between…