The Washington Post’s Al Kamen gives a quick update on the pace of judicial confirmations in the Senate. In short, President Obama shouldn’t expect to fill many more vacancies on the federal bench: Presidential election years are notoriously bad for nominees. For one thing, the Senate will probably meet fewer days in 2012, as it […]
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Romney’s Lawn Problem
As Jamelle noted earlier, things got testy between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry at last night’s debate. After being hammered on immigration issues for the past several weeks, Rick Perry turned the tables and accused Romney of hypocrisy. “Mitt, you lose all of your standing, from my perspective,” Perry said, “because you hired illegals in […]
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Comings & Goings
The New York Times has posted a riveting graphic representation showing where Americans are moving to and from, by race. I noodled around this spot for awhile, finding out some surprising things, but you could find more. Manhattan has become 22 percent more white–okay, housing prices have pushed out most people, and whites are richer […]
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What Will Happen with Black Turnout in 2012?
The thing to remember about Barack Obama’s support among black voters in the 2008 election is that it simply wasn’t as remarkable as it was presented. Obama won 95 percent of African American voters, which is not substantially higher than John Kerry’s 88 percent performance in 2004 and Al Gore’s 90 percent performance in 2000. […]
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Majority of Americans Now Support Marijuana Legalization
Yesterday, Gallup reported that in its latest poll, support for legalization of marijuana has for the first time cracked 50 percent: Why has this happened? I’d point to a few reasons. First, we’ve had a fairly active debate about medical use of marijuana for some time, and that debate has been soundly won by the […]
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Liberal Media Bludgeoning Obama; Conservatives at a Loss to Explain It
The good folks at the Project for Excellence in Journalism are constantly doing evaluations of news coverage, and one of the things they determine is how favorable or unfavorable coverage is to various political figures. Their latest report has some interesting findings. Rick Perry started off getting enormously positive coverage, but that changed after his […]
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Herman Cain Is Extremely Confused
(Flickr/Gage Skidmore) Dan Amira at New York has located some bizarre video of Herman Cain trying to explain his position on abortion on a television program a few months ago. To appreciate the muddled thinking, you just have to watch it: As Amira says, it was as though Cain “simply gathered some common abortion-related words […]
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DADT Repeal Not the End of Discrimination
Since “don’t ask, don’t tell” has been repealed, all’s peachy for lesbians and gay men in the military, yes? Umm, no. Serving openly has made it much clearer all the more subtle ways that lesbians and gay men are excluded from full participation — particularly, the fact that the military does not support its gay […]
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Big Government, Getting Up In Your Business
Here’s your daily dose of big government oppression: WASHINGTON — Users of cellphones and other wireless devices who are nearing their monthly limit for voice, text or data services will receive alerts when they are in danger of being charged extra, under an agreement reached by carriers and the Federal Communications Commission… A 2010 study […]
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Lost in Detention
What happens to you when you sneak into the U.S. without papers, hoping for a better life? You might make a living working at jobs that the native-born wouldn’t take, supporting your family back home. Or you might end up in indefinite detention. On Tuesday at 9 p.m., PBS’s Frontline airs Maria Hinojosa’s in-depth, year-long […]