Politics

There’s no area in which the wishful thinking of those who predicted an age of post-blackness has been more fully discredited than in the intersection of race and the law. From the continued and, some argue, intensified plague of police brutality to the ongoing prevalence of employment and housing discrimination, 2011 was a testament to…

Brace yourself. It’s gonna get ugly. No matter who wins today’s Iowa Republican caucuses (which look like a showdown between Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and the surging Rick Santorum), this is shaping up to be the most lowdown, nasty, plain old disgusting presidential campaign we’ve ever slogged through. Think Watergate or the disputed Bush v.…

It’s not as if Iowa represents a diverse cross section of America. With a population of just more than 3 million, the state doesn’t even have that many people. And it’s not the only place to have a voting event leading up to a presidential election — while the Iowa Republican caucuses take place this…

So what have you resolved to do in the new year? Get yourself organized? Lose those Christmas pounds that somehow seem to have already attached themselves to the pounds you gained last Christmas? Spend more time with the family? How about finally taking a vacation (presumably with that family you just resolved to spend more…

Even with the prominence of candidates like Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney has always been the favorite for the nomination, Jamelle Bouie writes in a blog entry at the American Prospect. At this point in the game, with less than week before the caucuses, you can safely turn to polls of Iowa Republicans…

President Lyndon B. Johnson was on target when he said in 1965 that with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, the Democrats had lost Southern white voters for a generation. He was off a bit and too optimistic. The loss has lasted longer than a generation, and the reason for it goes deep into…

In 1964 the White House Fellows program was created to offer exceptional young men and women a one-year placement in offices at the highest levels of the federal government — after which, this new generation of leaders were expected to return “to work as private citizens on their public agendas.” This fall President Barack Obama…

Children looking out the window and waiting by the Christmas tree weren’t the only ones tracking Santa Claus on Saturday night. First lady Michelle Obama was doing the same. Answering an astounding 102,000 calls, the Santa trackers at NORAD, assisted by Michelle Obama, helped shatter a 56-year-old record of 80,000 calls. “It is wonderful to…

It’s a modern article of American faith: Metropolitan police departments have a history of conflict with their cities’ minority citizens, conflicts that suggest police agencies trade evenhanded justice for heavy-handed contact with the public. In the recent past, police departments in Los Angeles, New York City and New Orleans have been taken to task for…