Education
Director Steve James Talks New Starz Docu-Series ‘America to Me’
LOS ANGELES SENTINEL — Emmy Award-winning Steve James is one of America’s most respected documentarians, working in the field today. […read more]
president obama
Lauren Victoria Burke
Senate Appoints Trump Pick Eric Dreiband to Head DOJ Civil Rights Division
NNPA NEWSWIRE — “…Mr. Dreiband lacks experience in many of the civil rights issues that fall under the Division’s jurisdiction – most importantly, voting rights, hate crimes, and police accountability,” said Congressional Black Caucus Chair Cedric Richmond (D-LA). […read more]
Chicago Defender
Here’s Why Black Unemployment Fell In September and (Hint) Trump Has Nothing To Do With It
CHICAGO DEFENDER — The African-American unemployment rate went from 6.3 percent to 6 percent, the second lowest on record behind 5.9 percent in May, according to the U.S. Labor Department who released the report on Friday. The decline suggests that Blacks had a less tough time with finding work. However, the change was little compared to August’s job report. […read more]
Commentary
Do African-American farmers support Kavanaugh for Supreme Court?
“When we found out that President Trump was nominating Judge Kavanaugh, we thought it would be fitting, his politics notwithstanding, that we had some duty to show that this person upheld the rights of black farmers and their heirs,” Burrell said. […read more]
Austin R. Cooper
COMMENTARY: The Sin, Hypocrisy and Racism of White Privilege
Had Senator Hillary Clinton won in 2008 and served two terms, the GOP would have nominated, and possibly elected, former Governor Jeb Bush or Governor John Kasich or even Senator Ted Cruz in 2016. But not Donald Trump. He would have been laughed off the stage as an illiterate, racist and unqualified joke. […read more]
Commentary
COMMENTARY: There is A Black Wave Sweeping across the State of Florida
The fight for the soul of the Democratic Party starts with the unification, mobilization, and organization of the base. Gillum is a bold powerful voice for change, and the question is, “Will the Florida Democratic Party get behind this progressive candidate 150%?” […read more]
Politics
LIVESTREAM: President Obama’s Farewell Address
[THE WHITE HOUSE VIA YOUTUBE.COM]
Sports
Obama Welcomes Crimson Tide to White House
By Diandra Bolton Howard University News Service WASHINGTON – During the annual celebration of the college national football champion at the White House, President Barack Obama joked Wednesday that he obviously is the reason for the continued and dramatic success of the University of Alabama, Read More
Op-Ed
How the Obama Presidency Exposed America’s Unchanged Ways
By Deric Muhammad Special to the NNPA News Wire from the Houston Forward Times “It’s been a looooooong; a long time coming, but I know, a change gon’ come.” -Sam Cooke (A Change Gonna Come; 1964) It was 1964, in the throes of the Civil Read More
Sports
Obama Says Women’s Soccer Team Taught Nation Lesson
By Erika R. Whitehead Howard University News Service WASHINGTON – It may or may not have been the most delicate of phrasing, but President Obama made it clear what he thought was the message sent by the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team in its World Read More
Politics
Documentary Featuring Obama Prison Visit Debuts in Oklahoma
TIM TALLEY, Associated Press EL RENO, Okla. (AP) — Federal inmates at an Oklahoma prison said Wednesday they are hoping a documentary featuring President Barack Obama’s July visit to the facility and in-depth interviews with six of the prisoners will influence policymakers to re-examine harsh Read More
Politics
Obama Has Vastly Changed the Face of the Federal Bureaucracy
(The Washington Post) – Friday afternoon announcements in Washington are usually aimed at attracting as little attention as possible, but last Friday was different. President Obama’s decision to nominate Eric Fanning — an openly gay man — to head a branch of the military which Read More
Politics
Obama Lauds Black Women at CBC Dinner
By Freddie Allen NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – During his speech at the 45th Annual Legislative Conference (ALC) Phoenix Awards Dinner, President Barack Obama celebrated the critical role that Black women have played in “every great movement in American history” and pledged to Read More
Politics
Obama Trying to Boost Free Community College Plan
NANCY BENAC, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — With his plan for two years of free community college stalled in Congress, President Barack Obama is trying to put more oomph behind state and local programs that provide what he’s been unable to offer nationally. Obama was Read More
Entertainment
White House Keeps Prince Guest List Secret
(Politico) – The hundreds of close friends of the Obamas who attended a Prince concert at the White House will retain their anonymity after officials declined to include the guest list as part of their routine release of visitor logs. Reporters had been eagerly awaiting Read More
Politics
Columbia University Clarifies on ‘Obama’s Return’
(New York Amsterdam News) – Multiple reports indicated that once President Barack Obama ends his term as Commander-in-Chief, going to take a position at Columbia University. The school is now clarifying what they meant. News broke Monday on Columbia’s breaking student news blog “Bwog” Twitter Read More
Politics
For Hurricane Katrina Anniversary, Obama Cites Inequities ‘Brewing for Decades’
New Orleans (CNN) – President Barack Obama returned Thursday to an outwardly thriving New Orleans to mark strides 10 years after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the city. But underneath the visible recovery lie persistent racial and economic inequities that haven’t receded since the storm — Read More
Politics
Obama Says New Orleans is ‘Moving Forward’ After Hurricane
DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says New Orleans is “moving forward” a decade after Hurricane Katrina dealt it a devastating blow, and has become an example of what can happen when people rally around each other to build a better Read More
Politics
Family Feud? Obama Caught Between Clinton, Biden Ambitions
JULIE PACE, AP White House Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is the man in the middle, caught between the White House aspirations of two of his closest advisers: Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. For months, White Read More
Politics
President Obama to Observe Katrina’s 10th Anniversary in New Orleans
by Zenitha Prince Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspaper Almost 10 years ago, the world watched as the waters of the Gulf of Mexico—urged on by the pummeling winds of Hurricane Katrina—swallowed the city of New Orleans, and wreaked havoc all up and Read More
World
President Obama Eyes African Legacy
(BBC) – As President Obama finished his speech to the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa last month and stepped off the stage, a tempest whipped up outside. The trees swayed, the rain battered the domed roof of the headquarters building and, given the lecture he’d just Read More
Politics
President Obama Assigned Himself 52 Hours of Reading on Summer Vacation
(The Washington Post) – President Obama brought six books with him on his summer vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. And if he started reading at noon on Thursday and only stopped reading for 8 hours of sleep and three one-hour meals a day, he would finish Read More
Politics
On Anniversary, Obama Says Too Few Use Hard-Won Voting Right
CONNIE CASS, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Marking the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, President Barack Obama remembered the African-American men and women across the South who won their rights through persistence and courage, and he urged citizens today not to give up Read More
Politics
Despite Economic Gains, Obama’s Work in Africa is Unfinished
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (The Washington Post) — In the end, President Obama may have gotten closer to the bones of ancient mankind than to ordinary Africans on what was probably his last trip to Africa as president. But no one can say he did not try. Read More
World
Obama Draws Criticism for Saying Ethiopia Is Democratic
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA Associated Press (AP) – Some African activists have greeted President Barack Obama’s remarks that Ethiopia has a democratically elected government with scorn and concern. Obama made the comment on Monday during a news conference with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn of Ethiopia, whose Read More
World
Obama Lectures Kenyan President on Gay Rights, Promises Counter Terrorism Action in East Africa
Obama’s Visit to Kenya — Father’s Homeland Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspaper President Obama took Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to task over the African country’s record on gay rights during his first visit to the country as president, while also promising increased Read More
World
How Obama Disappointed Africa
(Politico) – Beneath the ecstatic welcome President Barack Obama will receive when he arrives in his father’s homeland of Kenya on Friday is a lingering sense of disappointment. More than the first black president, he’s the first African-American U.S. president, and that’s accentuated a frustration among Read More
Politics
AP-GfK Poll: Minorities, Young Americans Still Backing Obama
JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press EMILY SWANSON, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Even as the public remains closely divided about his presidency, Barack Obama is holding on to his support from the so-called “Obama coalition” of minorities, liberals and young Americans, an Associated Press-GfK poll shows, Read More
Politics
The Black President Some Worried About Has Arrived
(The Washington Post) – There’s this thing people sometimes say down South. So-and-so is “acting brand new.” Sometimes that’s a reference to people behaving like they don’t know old friends and family — that they have evolved past their old crowd. Sometimes that’s Southern-speak for Read More
Politics
Obama to Visit Kilpatrick’s Prison in Oklahoma
(Detroit News) – President Barack Obama will visit Kwame Kilpatrick’s federal prison in Oklahoma on Thursday, offering a reminder of how far their careers and fortunes have diverged since both were viewed as rising political figures eight years ago. Obama is scheduled to meet with Read More
National
President Obama Speaks, Sings of ‘Amazing Grace’ in Memory of Rev. Pinckney
by Kenya Vaughn Special to the NNPA from the St. Louis American “His sacrifice must lead to reconciliation,” said U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC). Rev. Clementa Pinckney paid the ultimate price when a stranger was allowed to stranger join him and about a dozen others Read More
National
Obama Delivers Passionate Race Lecture at Eulogy
MEG KINNARD, Associated Press JEFFREY COLLINS, Associated Press JONATHAN DREW, Associated Press CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — President Barack Obama delivered a passionate discourse on America’s racial history Friday in his eulogy for a state senator and pastor, slain along with eight other black churchgoers in Read More
Politics
Legacies of Obama Presidency and Roberts Court are Forever Intertwined
(The Washington Post) – President Obama and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. got off to a rough start from the very beginning, when they tripped over each other’s words during a key line in the oath at Obama’s first inauguration. Both Harvard Law Read More
Politics
Understanding Obama in the Fourth Quarter
(CNN) – WTF? That’s exactly what the political world has been asking since President Barack Obama went to a garage in Los Angeles to record a podcast aptly named WTF and used a word rarely spoken in public by anyone, least of all a president. But Read More
Politics
Republican-Led Congress Hands Obama Major Win on Trade
CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press DAVID ESPO, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In a triumph of divided government, the Republican-controlled Congress passed major trade legislation Wednesday that was long-sought by President Barack Obama but vehemently opposed by most lawmakers in his party. The measure to strengthen Read More
Politics
Obama Scolds Heckler: ‘You’re in My House’
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama took on a heckler head-on at a gay pride month reception at the White House Wednesday, scolding the protester for being disrespectful in “my house.” The heckler had interrupted Obama’s remarks by protesting the detention and deportation of Read More
Politics
Obama’s Glad He Used the N-Word
(Politico) – President Barack Obama’s glad he said what he said. And he believes America proved his point on Monday: Even in the wake of an amateur white supremacist shooting nine African-Americans to death in a historically black church in the hopes of inciting Read More
National
Obama: Church Shooting ‘Raises Questions About a Dark Part of Our History’
(NBC News) – President Barack Obama on Thursday addressed the horrific South Carolina church shooting in emotional remarks that invoked America’s turbulent racial history and the heated politics over gun control. “I don’t need to be constrained about the emotions tragedies like this raise,” the president said. Read More
Sports
Obama Stays Neutral in NBA, Roots for NHL’s Blackhawks
WASHINGTON (AP) — The avid sports fan who occupies the Oval Office is refusing to take sides as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors battle for the NBA championship. President Barack Obama told the entertainment news show “Extra” on Thursday that both teams Read More
Politics
Obama Makes Personal Appeal on Trade Before Key House Vote
ERICA WERNER, Associated Press CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — With a last-minute trip to the Capitol, President Barack Obama sought to quell a revolt Friday among House Democrats threatening to torpedo top-priority legislation to strengthen his hand in global trade talks. Cheers greeted Read More
Politics
Commentary: Can Jews Cut President Obama Some Slack Already?
(The Washington Post) – First, they said that he was anti-Israel. Then, some actually said that he was anti-Semitic. Can we — pretty please — ease up on President Obama already? I will freely admit it: In many ways, I have found Obama’s presidency to Read More
Technology
If You Type ‘N—- House’ Into Google Maps, It Will Take You To The White House
(The Huffington Post) – President Barack Obama is no stranger to Internet racism, but this is just ridiculous: typing “nigga house” into Google Maps can land you at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A screenshot of the glitch, confirmed by HuffPost Politics, was posted to Twitter by a Read More
Technology
‘It’s Barack. Really!’ Obama Gets His Own Twitter Account
(Irish Times) – US president Barack Obama has finally got his hands on his own twitter account, racking up 1.68 million followers since Monday with a mere three tweets. His twitter handle, @POTUS, stands for President of the United States and the account will be controlled by Read More
Politics
Obama Restricts Police Military Gear, Says it Can Alienate
NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — President Barack Obama ended long-running federal transfers of some combat-style gear to local law enforcement on Monday in an attempt to ease tensions between police and minority communities, saying equipment made for the battlefield should not be Read More
Politics
Obama Chooses Chicago’s South Side for Presidential Library
DON BABWIN, Associated Press CARYN ROUSSEAU, Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — President Barack Obama has decided to build his presidential library on the South Side of Chicago, where his political career began. The Barack Obama Foundation announced in a news release early Tuesday that the Read More
Politics
My Brother’s Keeper Enters a New Phase
By Freddie Allen NNPA Senior Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – While political pundits rush ahead to the 2016 presidential election, President Barack Obama is rallying private-sector, philanthropic and community leaders to launch an independent non-profit to ensure that the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Initiative lives Read More
Politics
Obama Chooses Chicago to Host His Presidential Library
JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has chosen his hometown of Chicago to host his future presidential library, two individuals with knowledge of the decision said Thursday, placing the permanent monument to his legacy in the city that launched his improbable Read More
Politics
Obama Criticizes Black Deaths by Police, but Also Rioters
NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Urging Americans to “do some soul-searching,” President Barack Obama expressed deep frustration Tuesday over recurring black deaths at the hands of police, rioters responding with senseless violence and a society that will only “feign concern” without addressing the Read More
Politics
Clinton Faces Promise, Risk of Being Seen as 3rd Obama Term
LISA LERER, Associated Press KEN THOMAS, Associated Press NORWALK, Iowa (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton came to Iowa to give voters an intimate glance of who she’d be as president. What they got instead was a glimpse into the complicated relationship between the current inhabitant Read More
Health
Did Obama Link His Daughter’s Asthma To Climate Change?
WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — Global warming isn’t just affecting the weather, it’s harming Americans’ health, President Barack Obama said Tuesday as he announced steps government and businesses will take to better understand and deal with the problem. Obama said hazards of the changing climate include wildfires sending more Read More
Politics
Obama Commutes Sentences of 22 People in Federal Prison
DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday shortened the prison sentences of nearly two dozen drug convicts, including eight serving life in prison, in an act the White House said continues Obama’s push to make the justice system fairer by Read More
National
Preparing for 2016 Campaign, Hillary Clinton Embracing Obama
JULIE PACE, Associated Press KEN THOMAS, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Rather than keeping him at arm’s length, Hillary Rodham Clinton is embracing President Barack Obama — sometimes even literally. Clinton had been expected to look for some ways to separate herself from the president Read More
Politics
Fresh Problems for Secret Service: Are Leaders Doing Enough?
JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The latest in a string of baffling missteps by the Secret Service prompted fresh questions Thursday about whether the Obama administration has done enough to root out deep-seated problems plaguing the agency — Read More
Politics
Republicans Are Beginning to Act as Though Barack Obama Isn’t Even the President
(The Washington Post) – It’s safe to say that no president in modern times has had his legitimacy questioned by the opposition party as much as Barack Obama. But as his term in office enters its final phase, Republicans are embarking on an entirely Read More
Politics
New Low in Relations Between Obama, Congressional GOP
JULIE PACE, Associated Press ERICA WERNER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Relations between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans have hit a new low. There has been little direct communication between Obama and the GOP leadership on Capitol Hill since Republicans took full control of Read More
National
In Selma, Ala., Obama Proved That He is ‘Black Enough’
By George E. Curry NNPA Editor-in-Chief NEW ANALYSIS SELMA, Ala. (NNPA) – Throughout his campaign for the presidency, Barack Obama was dogged by one question: Is he Black enough? The question was repeated so often that after showing up late for an appearance at the Read More
Politics
Obama Celebrates Black History Month, Ahead of Selma Visit
STACY A. ANDERSON, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Thursday celebrated what he called “the central role that African-Americans have played in every aspect of American life.” Obama was joined by his wife, Michelle, as they hosted a White House reception for Read More
Politics
Giuliani Questions Obama’s Love of US; Democrats Cry Foul
KEN THOMAS, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats on Thursday assailed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for questioning President Barack Obama’s love of country, and urged the potential field of Republican presidential candidates to rebuke him for his comments. Giuliani said at a Read More
Politics
Giuliani: Obama Had a White Mother, So I’m Not a Racist
(New York Times) – Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York on Thursday defended his assertion that President Obama did not love America, and said that his criticism of Mr. Obama’s upbringing should not be considered racist because the president was raised by “a Read More
Politics
At Summit on Extremism, Obama Defends His Semantic Choices Regarding Islam
(Los Angeles Times) – President Obama has talked about the deadly dogma infiltrating some Muslim communities and decried the acts of terrorism carried out in the name of what he calls a “distorted” version of Islam. But as he presides over three days of Read More
Politics
Rudy Giuliani: President Obama Doesn’t Love America
NEW YORK (Politico) — Rudy Giuliani went straight for the jugular Wednesday night during a private group dinner here featuring Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker by openly questioning whether President Barack Obama “loves America.” The former New York mayor, speaking in front of the 2016 Read More
Politics
Judge Halts Obama’s Immigration Action
(Politico) – President Barack Obama’s latest and boldest attempt to use his executive powers to grant quasi-legal status to illegal immigrants ran into a major road block late Monday as a federal judge in Texas barred the administration from going forward with plans for Read More
Politics
Keystone Veto: Can Obama, GOP Compromise on Anything?
JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A looming veto by President Barack Obama of a Republican-championed bill foreshadows a key question for the White House: whether the president and Republicans can find areas to work together, even as Obama strikes down many of their Read More
Politics
Obama Disputes Aide David Axelrod’s Take on Gay Marriage
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is disputing a longtime aide’s view that Obama feigned opposition to gay marriage, compromising his true beliefs out of concern it could hurt him with voters. Former Obama strategist David Axelrod writes in a new book that Read More
Politics
Lawmakers Expect Resistance to Granting Obama War Powers
ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress will face some resistance to a vote to authorize President Barack Obama’s war against Islamic State militants despite international outrage over video of militants beheading their captives and Read More
Politics
Critics Pounce After Obama Talks Crusades, Slavery at Prayer Breakfast
(The Washington Post) – President Obama has never been one to go easy on America. As a new president, he dismissed the idea of American exceptionalism, noting that Greeks think their country is special, too. He labeled the Bush-era interrogation practices, euphemistically called “harsh” Read More
Religion
Obama Condemns Those Who Seek to ‘Hijack Religion’
NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Thursday condemned those who seek to use religion as a rationale for carrying out violence around the world. “No god condones terror,” he said. “We are summoned to push back against those who would Read More
Politics
‘Black People. That’s What He Thinks This Was All About’: How Romney’s 2012 Concession Irked Obama
(Salon) – Delivering his victory speech following his re-election in 2012, President Obama adhered to standard practice by offering warm words for his vanquished opponent. “I just spoke with Governor Romney and I congratulated him and Paul Ryan on a hard-fought campaign,” the president told Read More
Politics
Obama Asks for $50 Million to Restore Civil Rights Sites
JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act by earmarking $50 million to restore key civil rights areas around the nation. The president’s budget includes money for the national historical trail from Read More
Politics
Obama’s Tax Cuts Target Parents, Families with 2 Incomes
STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is proposing nearly $280 billion in tax cuts for low- and middle-income families, but not everyone will benefit. Obama’s proposed budget calls for a total of $1.5 trillion in new taxes over the next decade, Read More
Politics
Obama’s Record Budget: Tax the Rich, Help Middle Class
ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Promising to help America’s middle class, President Barack Obama on Monday sent Congress a record $4 trillion budget that would hammer corporate profits overseas and raise taxes on the wealthy while boosting tax credits for families and the Read More
Politics
Reggie Love: On Being Obama’s ‘Surrogate Son’ and More
WASHINGTON (USA Today) — Reggie Love says his job as “body man” for Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign and at the White House required him to be constantly ready but never intrusive — “like a child in Victorian England, if that child were Read More
Health
Obama Unveils Research Initiative to Develop Tailored Medical Treatments
WASHINGTON (New York Times) — Declaring that “the possibilities are boundless,” President Obama on Friday announced a major biomedical research initiative, including plans to collect genetic data on one million Americans so that scientists can develop drugs and treatments tailored to the characteristics of individual Read More
Politics
Obama Calls for Spending Surge, Buoyed by Rising Economy
JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Declaring an end to “mindless austerity,” President Barack Obama called for a surge in government spending Thursday, and asked Congress to throw out the sweeping budget cuts both parties agreed to four years ago Read More
Politics
Obama Budget to Propose Spending Lift for Military, Domestic Programs
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s budget will call for an increase in U.S. domestic and military spending that would end spending caps known as ‘sequestration,’ a White House official said, setting up a new source of conflict with Republicans in Congress. Obama intends to announce his plans Read More
Politics
White House Drops Plan to Scale Back College Savings Plans
STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Tuesday it is dropping a proposal to scale back the tax benefits of college savings plans amid a backlash from both Republicans and Democrats. President Barack Obama made the proposal last week as part Read More
Politics
What Issues Roil Washington? Obama’s Veto Threats are Clues
NANCY BENAC, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has a telling hit list. The veto threats that he’s issued over the last three weeks are a microcosm of American politics, representing the roiling issues of the day, the power struggle playing out between Read More
Politics
Obama to Pass on Meeting Netanyahu During Washington Visit
JULIE PACE, AP White House Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned trip to Washington in March is kicking up a diplomatic dust storm in the nation’s capital. On Thursday, the White House said President Barack Obama would not meet the prime Read More
Politics
Obama’s Tax Trap
(Slate) – The most notable Republican reaction to President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night did not come from official respondent Joni Ernst, the rookie senator from Red Oak, Iowa, with the camouflage high heels. It came from Mitt Romney, newly back in Read More
Technology
The 11 Best Social Media Moments at the State of the Union Address
(CNN) – And they say people are disengaged from politics. You wouldn’t know it from the Twitter traffic during the State of the Union. The folks at the microblogging site said more than 2.6 million tweets were sent around the world with the hashtag #SOTU. It Read More
Politics
With ‘No More Campaigns to Run,’ Obama Refuses to Back Down
by George E. Curry NNPA Editor-in-Chief NEWS ANALYSIS WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The strongest line in President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night was adlibbed. When he said toward the end of his one-hour speech, “I have no more campaigns to run,” Republicans laughed. Read More
Politics
Obama Aims to Influence 2016 Debate with State of the Union
JULIE PACE, AP White House Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — Key elements of the economic proposals President Barack Obama will outline in his State of the Union address Tuesday appear to be aimed at driving the debate in the 2016 election on income inequality and middle-class Read More
Business
Obama Tries Again to Get Paid Leave for More Workers
NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press BALTIMORE (AP) — President Barack Obama launched a fresh push Thursday to bring paid sick and family leave to working parents and other private-sector employees as the White House unveiled proposals that could benefit tens of millions Read More
Politics
House Votes to Undo Obama Immigration Policies
ERICA WERNER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican U.S. House voted Wednesday to overturn President Barack Obama’s key immigration policies, approving legislation that would eliminate new deportation protections for millions and expose hundreds of thousands of younger immigrants to expulsion. The 236-191 vote came Read More
Politics
AP EXPLAINS: Obama’s Presidential Veto Power
STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has vetoed just two measures in his six years in the White House, the fewest by any U.S. president since the 1880s. But since the Republicans have assumed control of both houses of Congress Read More
Entertainment
Huckabee Slams Obama for Letting Daughters Listen to Beyoncé
THOMAS BEAUMONT, Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has accused President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, of double standards in parenting, saying in an interview published Tuesday that the first family shelters its daughters from some things but Read More
Politics
Obama Proposes Publicly Funded Community College for All
NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama wants publicly funded community college available to all Americans, a sweeping proposal that would make higher education as accessible as a high school diploma to boost weak U.S. wages and skills for the modern workforce. Read More
Politics
Obama, Mexico’s President Meet Under Shadow of Abductions
NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama pledged to stand with Mexico against “the scourge of violence and the drug cartels” as he met Tuesday with President Enrique Pena Nieto amid concern over the unsolved abduction of 43 Mexican college students last Read More
Politics
Obama’s Year of the Veto
(Politico) – President Barack Obama’s Keystone veto threat Tuesday was the opening gambit in his fight with the new Republican majorities in Congress looking to derail his post-midterm momentum. Worried White House aides spent the last few weeks working behind the scenes to make sure Read More
Politics
Universities Competing for Obama Library Site
JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — President Barack Obama has preached economic opportunity and equal access to education as cornerstones of the legacy he wants to leave behind. But in the contest to host his presidential library, two public universities that serve needy communities Read More
Politics
President Obama Abandons Michael Boggs Nomination
(Politico) – President Barack Obama will not renominate controversial Georgia judicial nominee Michael Boggs to the federal bench in 2015, according to the state’s two Republican senators. Boggs drew widespread opposition from Senate Democrats, including Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, for his record as Read More
Politics
Hawaii Vacation Reunites Obama and Childhood Pals
JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) — Since returning to his childhood home this month on vacation, President Barack Obama has spent a good part of most days cloistered with three people whose company puts him at ease. They’re not his wife and daughters, who Read More
World
N. Korea Uses Racial Slur Against Obama in Sony Hack Row
Hyung-Jin Kim, ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea blamed its recent Internet outage on the United States on Saturday and hurled racially charged insults at President Barack Obama over the hacking row involving the movie “The Interview.” North Korea’s powerful National Read More
Politics
Factors Shaping 2016 Presidential Race
The Associated Press Key factors as the 2016 presidential race begins to take shape: ___ DEMOCRATS’ ELECTORAL COLLEGE BASELINE: Democrats have won the same group of states worth 242 electoral votes for every election since 1992. A Democratic nominee who holds those states and adds Read More
Politics
Republicans Warm to Loretta Lynch
(Politico) – President Barack Obama’s pick to be the next attorney general is winning over Republicans. Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, has met privately with several Republican senators in recent weeks, earning some of their early support Read More
National
Cuba Thaw Lets Rest of Latin America Warm to Washington
BUENOS AIRES (New York Times) — President Obama has been lambasted for spying in Brazil, accused of being a warmonger by Bolivia, dismissed as a “lost opportunity” by Argentina, and taunted in Nicaragua by calls for Latin America to draw up its own list of state sponsors Read More
Politics
The Senate Just Cemented Obama’s Judicial Legacy
WASHINGTON (The Huffington Post) — If there’s one thing from 2014 that will define President Barack Obama’s legacy after he’s left the White House, it’s the number of lifetime judges he put on the federal bench. In its final act of the year, the Read More
Politics
Obama Signs $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill Into Law
JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — With little fanfare to mark a rare bipartisan achievement, President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed a massive, $1.1 trillion spending bill that keeps the government operating over the next nine months. The legislation was a compromise that angered Read More
World
Obama Condemns Deadly Attack on Pakistani School
NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday condemned a “horrific attack” on a Pakistani school that killed more than 100 children, as U.S. officials offered assistance in responding to the terrorist shooting. Taliban gunmen stormed the Army Public School on Read More
Health
Senate Approves Obama Pick for Surgeon General
MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press LAURAN NEERGAARD, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Monday approved President Barack Obama’s nomination of Dr. Vivek Murthy to serve as U.S. surgeon general, despite opposition from Republicans and some Democrats over his support for gun control and past Read More