Politics

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chief White House spokesman says a Thursday meeting among the president, a Harvard University scholar and the policeman who arrested him will be “about having a beer and de-escalation.” Robert Gibbs says the session, weather permitting, is planned for a picnic table outside the Oval Office. According to Gibbs, “The president…

It has taken long enough, but the people responsible for setting the nation’s pace on education policy seem to have finally figured out what’s most important. We need better teachers and more of them to go around. President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan get it. And so does Michelle Rhee, D.C.’s chancellor of public…

This week offers a potentially historic turning point in America’s response to HIV/AIDS, as the Senate weighs whether to show the courage of President Obama’s convictions and end one of the most counterproductive public health laws Congress has ever written: the ban on federal funding for needle-exchange programs. The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to…

The subject line was ominous: “This is difficult to watch,” it said. I probably shouldn’t share with you what sort of video I was expecting to find upon opening the message, but I can tell you that the enclosed clip, though not what I imagined, was indeed difficult to watch, especially for a huge hip-hop…

I think that the invitation by President Obama to Dr. Gates could lead to a possible learning moment that could change the perception and ultimately the reality of bad police community relations in this country. As one who has been involved in racial profiling cases since the ‘90s, I can tell you that people tend…

From CNN: Former boxing champion Vernon Forrest is dead after being shot multiple times in a neighborhood southwest of downtown Atlanta, officials said Sunday. An Atlanta police spokeswoman said it appeared that Forrest, 38, had been robbed, which led to a confrontation in which he was shot several times in the back. Police had no…

Some tools used in statistics courses are useful for understanding race in America. In statistics, you learn about overlapping and non-overlapping “sets.” Black and white America are like two Venn diagrams, circles that share substantial common or overlapping space and that have some areas that do not overlap at all. In many ways, the area…

So the Cambridge police union wants an apology from President Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick for calling out the Cambridge Police Department for mishandling Skip Gates’ arrest? That’s some priceless gall considering that the Cambridge Police Department called the event “regrettable and unfortunate” and recommended that disorderly conduct charges against Gates be dropped. It’s…

Statement from Henry Louis Gates, Jr. “It was very kind of the President to phone me today.  Vernon Jordan is absolutely correct: my unfortunate experience will only have a larger meaning if we can all use this to diminish racial profiling and to enhance fairness and equity in the criminal justice system for poor people and…

There is no greater bully pulpit in the world than that of the presidency of the United States. At 2:30 p.m. on Friday, President Obama, before a stunned White House Press Corps, used the reach of his megaphone to try to tame a wildfire started two days earlier when he waded into the Henry Louis…