Politics
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Herman Cain Drops a Gospel Album
If you don’t like Herman Cain’s politics, his singing voice might do it for you. The Republican presidential candidate’s gospel album, Sunday Morning, became available online today. Slate’s David Weigel reports, “It’s real, it was published 15 years ago by GLC Music, Selah Sound Production & Melodic Praise Records, and it is not being distributed…
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John McWhorter Responds to Swerdlick on Cain
David Swerdlick may think I am right about just one thing, but he’s right in his response about almost everything. He is wrong in only one: his reading of the intention of my piece from Monday, “Herman Cain and the Sadness of Black Folks.” I meant a single thing: Herman Cain’s popularity with a healthy segment…
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Michelle Obama and Former First Ladies Gather for Betty Ford Funeral
Jeff Wilson of the Associated Press is reporting that Michelle Obama and three former first ladies are among dignitaries heading to Palm Desert, Calif., to pay tribute to Betty Ford at a funeral focusing on her twin passions: politics and her world famous Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and alcohol treatment. Mrs. Ford, who died at the age…
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What's Herman Cain Got to Do With It?
John McWhorter is right about one thing. Herman Cain “is evidence of, of all things, progress.” McWhorter — iconoclast, The Root columnist and widely regarded author of the best-sellers Losing the Race and Winning the Race — argued this week in “Herman Cain and the Sadness of Black Folks” that the failure of black observers…
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Economic Outlook Worsens, U.S. Adds Only 18,000 Jobs in June
Job growth came nearly to a halt in June, the federal government said Friday with surprisingly grim new data that challenge expectations that the economy is poised to bounce back from its spring lull. The disappointing report comes at a sensitive time, as President Obama and Congress engage in high-stakes negotiations over raising the legal…
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A Little More Revenue Could Go a Long Way
Do progressives care about reducing the national debt? Of course they do, no matter what the White House might believe. “We think that obviously there are some Democrats who don’t feel as strongly about deficit reduction as [President Obama] does,” senior adviser David Plouffe said Wednesday at a breakfast with reporters and columnists. But that’s…
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Haitian-American Politicos to Watch
Most Americans, if they were aware of Haitian Americans at all, associated them with a long list of negative images — as poor refugees and non-English speakers, or simply as illegal immigrants — long before the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake put Haiti in the international spotlight. There are, of course, Haitian Americans who face many…
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NAACP 'Deeply Concerned' by CNN Lineup
In a press release today, the NAACP expressed its profound disappointment in CNN’s newly announced prime-time news lineup, which features no African Americans in slots as anchors or hosts. “The NAACP is deeply concerned with the lack of African-American journalists in prime-time news, both on cable and national network news shows,” NAACP President and CEO…
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Obama's Proposed Cuts Draw Mixed Reactions
Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post is reporting that President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue. At a meeting with top House and Senate leaders set for Thursday morning, Obama plans…
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NASA Chief: Final Shuttle Launch Begins New Era
When the space shuttle Atlantis blasts off on Friday, it will mark the final NASA shuttle mission ever. But the shuttering of the 30-year-old program isn’t the end of American space exploration — in fact, according to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, it makes way for the creation of new designs that will take us deeper…