Alexandra Gutierrez

On this day in 1973, a final jet left the Tan Son Nhut airbase in South Vietnam, ending U.S. direct military involvement in the Vietnam War. The departure marked the end of nearly a decade of combat – and followed years of anti-war demonstrations and protests. (Bernie Boston)

Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turns 70. Liberal supporters sent thousands of roses to her office to celebrate her birthday. The speaker split the roses between the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and hill staffers to “thank them for all their hard work on the health reform legislation.” (Flickr/Speaker Pelosi)

Gabriel Arana on how the climate for immigration reform has changed since 2006: Last Sunday, 200,000 immigrant-rights protesters shared the National Mall with a tea-party crowd that shouted racial epithets and spat at members of Congress. Unsurprisingly, the media focused on the histrionics of the tea partiers, but Sunday’s immigration demonstration was an important manifestation […]


Sens. Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham‘s blueprint for immigration reform, published in a Washington Post op-ed today, does nothing but perpetuate the fundamental misunderstanding that has plagued our immigration policy for decades. Their goal is not to fix our broken immigration system but to solve the “problem” of illegal immigrants. The “four pillars” of their […]

Tea Party activists gathered in Washington today to protest health-care reform. (The Washington Independent/Dave Weigel)

In Texas, Thomas Jefferson is no one’s favorite Founding Father. (Flickr/theqspeaks)

Barack Obama and Joe Biden attend Sasha Obama and Maisy Biden‘s basketball game. The high-five is the new fist bump. (Pete Souza/White House)

In a Nasiriyah elementary school, a woman displays her purple fingertip after casting her ballot. By law, women must fill a quarter of the seats in Iraq’s parliament. (Flickr/DVIDSHUB)

Unemployment numbers are out today, and they are still ugly. (Flickr/AFL-CIO)