Government

A leaked FBI document revealed that the US government views “Black identity extremists” as a threat.

For the first time, the U.S. government is confirming that it conducted secret chemical experiments on World War II troops by grouping them according to race, NPR reports. While Black, Japanese-American, and Puerto Rican soldiers were tested with mustard gas and lewisite, a similar chemical agent, White soldiers were often used as a control group. NPR […]

The federal government’s authority to gather vast quantities of phone records in the hunt for terrorists expired at 12:01 a.m. Monday after Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, blocked an extension of the program during a dramatic Senate session on Sunday, reports The New York Times. By blocking the extension, Paul, also a 2016 Republican […]

Maybe Jim DeMint has never heard of the American Civil War. DeMint, the president of the conservative Heritage Foundation and former Republican senator from South Carolina, was a guest on a radio show last week and told the host that “the conscience of the American people” freed the slaves in the 1860’s, not “big government.” According to DeMint: Well the reason that […]

WASHINGTON — In the ultimate cap to a year of last-minute, half-loaf legislation, the Senate voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to extend a payroll tax cut for a two months, with the chamber’s leaders and the White House proclaiming victory, even as they pushed the issue of how to extend the tax cut and unemployment benefits […]

With lawmakers in Washington battling over the budget, many programs including President Obama’s anti-poverty initiatives may soon face dire cuts. House Republicans zeroed out all three parts of the president’s Neighborhood Revitalization Initiatives: the school-centered Promise Neighborhoods, the housing-focused Choice Neighborhoods and the law enforcement-oriented Byrne Criminal Justice Initiative. City Limits Reports: All three programs […]

Concerned pastors are making a statement to Congress today: Don’t balance the federal budget on the backs of the poor. As Republicans and Democrats fight over cuts, taxes and debt limits, faith leaders are worried that the ultimate losers will be the programs relied on by the poorest Americans for food, education and health care. […]

WASHINGTON — If lawmakers fail to reach a compromise on the nation’s deficit, it would not be the first time America defaulted on its loans…sort of. According to a report in The Washington Post, in 1979 the U.S. reached a last-minute approval that resulted in technical malfunctions in processing the backlog of paperwork, and subsequently […]

Roland Martin and Mary Matalin take on the day’s top news stories. Martin and Matalin discuss a call to arms in Chicago. A Chicago area minister wants the National Guard to patrol the streets.

WASHINGTON – America’s “Great Compromiser” Henry Clay called government “the great trust,” but most Americans today have little faith in Washington’s ability to deal with the nation’s problems.

From the New York Times: An unusual and much-heralded program that gave poor families cash to encourage good behavior and self-sufficiency has so far had only modest effects on their lives and economic situation, according to an analysis the Bloomberg administration released on Tuesday.