Barack Obama
The human cost of political retribution as policy during a public health crisis
Much of the presidency of Donald Trump has been marked by his systematic dismantling, or attempted dismantling of the work of President Barack Obama. Trump rose to to right-wing prominence starting in 2011 by repeatedly leveling racist, false accusations that Obama was a Kenyan-born Islamic usurper. The trajectory of this line of attack eventually won […]
State AGs to Trump: Put the brakes on new regulations
WASHINGTON — Twenty-one attorneys general from across the country are pressing the Trump administration to freeze pending regulations so officials can focus on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The attorneys general sent a letter Tuesday to the White House Office of Management and Budget requesting that the administration cease other regulations and focus only […]
Obama stimulus watchdog: ‘Bad guys’ will make play for COVID-19 relief cash
WASHINGTON — Earl Devaney is feeling déjà vu. Devaney, a former longtime federal watchdog, was hired in 2009 to police the distribution of $840 billion in federal stimulus spending for the Obama administration. He had previously worked for the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. EPA’s environmental enforcement division and as the Interior Department’s inspector general. Now happily […]
U.S. Senate votes to ax DeVos student loan policy
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday to overturn a controversial regulation from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that her critics say hurts defrauded student loan borrowers. Senate Democrats forced the vote under the Congressional Review Act, a law that allows Congress to overturn federal rules within 60 days after they’re finalized. The U.S. House […]
7 lessons from ‘Hidden Figures’ NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson’s life and career
Katherine Johnson, an African-American mathematician who made critical contributions to the space program at NASA, died Feb. 24 at the age of 101. Johnson became a household name thanks to the celebrated book “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians who Helped Win the Space Race,” which later […]
Before presidential bid, Bloomberg threw cash at unlikely Ohio candidates
The last-minute boost to Jamie O’Leary’s campaign could not have come at a better time. Locked in a five-way race for an Ohio State Board of Education seat, O’Leary’s main opponent had already received the support and financial backing of two major teachers unions. Then came $12,500 on Nov. 1, 2016 from a resident of […]
Nobody likes a smarty pants: Why Warren and Obama irk pundits so much
Elizabeth Warren has never succeeded in charming the pundit class, which tends to describe her in oh-so-flattering terms like professorial, scold, elitist, lecturing, strident and schoolmarmish (she was a Harvard professor before being elected as a senator, in case you couldn’t tell by these pejoratives). After covering this primary for the last approximately 12,000 years (or 14 months, who’s counting?), I can say […]
Ohio is flat, rural, red and boring. Except that it’s not.
Ohio is flatland corn country. It’s rural and red and full of white people who drink mass-produced American lager and like football. Oh, and it’s boring, painfully boring. It’s not that these statements are entirely inaccurate, but the massive generalizations they represent are wildly off base. In reality, while Ohio boasts plenty of flat corn […]