Politics
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What's at Stake for Obama in 2014
(The Root) — It is no surprise that President Barack Obama, who has already faced improbable odds and still managed to do the impossible, will soon face one of his greatest challenges yet. The 2014 midterms are perhaps the most important election of Obama’s presidency, offering the last opportunity to circumvent an obstinate GOP selfishly committed…
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Obama to Nominate 3 Key Judges
President Obama is expected to nominate three judges to fill the vacancies on the key 11-member Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the New York Times reported. The move, analysis suggests, could be seen as “daring” Republicans to filibuster all of the nominees. The contenders for the vacancies may include Cornelia T.…
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First Lady and Kerry Washington Push for the Arts
(The Root) — Students from the Savoy Elementary School in Washington, D.C., crooned, somersaulted, Lindy Hopped and re-enacted scenes from the 1970s film Grease on Friday as a way to flex their school’s new muscles in arts education. They performed in the gym to an audience of their peers and two distinguished ladies cheering in…
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Julian Bond: Why I Likened the Tea Party to the Taliban
When retired NAACP leader Julian Bond said the Tea Party was “the Taliban wing of American politics” on MSNBC earlier this month, some people were not happy. But the long-time civil rights warrior writes on the Trice Edny News Wire that even a Republican agrees with his statement. One source is a study conducted for the…
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Obama: Oklahoma Will Bounce Back With Our Help
On Sunday, President Obama toured the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, an area hardest hit by the tornadoes last week, before delivering remarks and asking Americans to donate recovery funds, reports CNN. Funeral homes and churches were busy with services nearly a week after the devastating storm, which killed 24 people, injured more than 375 others…
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Did Blacks Start the Trend of Heckling Obama?
After President Obama was heckled during his speech on counterterrorism Thursday, some people wondered how many times these types of interruptions have happened to the POTUS. The Huffington Post‘s Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes that the trend began with black protestors but has carried on thanks to the heightened American fringe culture, like the Tea Party,…
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Tavis Smiley: White House Pressured Sponsors to Pull Support
On Friday, television and radio host Tavis Smiley celebrated the 10th anniversary of his Tavis Smiley show on PBS and defended his right to critique President Obama, reports Lynn Elber of the Associated Press (via the Huffington Post). According to Elber, Smiley says freedom of speech hasn’t come without its price and that sponsors have been…
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Time for a Moratorium on School Suspensions?
(The Root) — A sociologist presenting at a strategy session at the NAACP Leadership 500 Summit in Naples, Fla., on Friday proposed a radical change to school discipline policies that she said would improve educational outcomes, in particular for black and Latino children, who are subjected to disproportionately harsh punishments. “We need to look at…
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Obama: Sexual Assault Threatens Military Trust
On Friday, President Obama used his U.S. Naval Academy commencement speech to decry sexual assault in the military, writes USA Today. “Those who commit sexual assault are not only committing a crime, they threaten the trust and discipline that makes our military strong,” Obama said during commencement services at the U.S. Naval Academy. Obama…