Attorney General Eric Holder

May 17 2013

Numerous scandals threaten president’s second-term agenda

President Barack Obama is counter-punching furiously to prevent a series of potential scandals from overwhelming his second-term agenda.

With a trio of moves, the suddenly beleaguered president fought back on Wednesday against Republican attacks that his administration defied accountability for controversies involving IRS targeting of conservative groups, the secret subpoena of journalists’ phone records and erroneous talking points in the immediate aftermath of last year’s Benghazi terrorist attack.

May 14 2013

Attorney General Eric Holder says the revelation “put the American people at risk”

Justice Department officials are tight-lipped, but The Associated Press says it knows why federal agents wanted telephone records of its reporters.

A May 7, 2012, AP story broke the news that the CIA had thwarted an al Qaeda plot to blow up a U.S.-bound jetliner around the anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden by American commandos. The story, which included reporting by five staffers, said the plot was significant in part because the White House had told the public that it had no information about planned attacks around the anniversary.

Aug 2 2012

Texas seen as most restrictive

Voting rights activists have been saying it all along: voter ID laws carry the taint of racial discrimination. Now, according to the findings of a recent poll conducted by the University of Delaware, support for voter ID laws prevails among those who harbor negative feelings toward African Americans.

David L. Horne, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jul 5 2012

Pracitical Politics

 Usually, I’m pretty definitive about writing this column. I choose a topic that interests me, or that seems to offer an opportunity to present something meaningful to OurWeekly’s constituents, and I’m off.

Cynthia E. Griffin-  |   OW Managing Editor
Jul 5 2012

House action does not yield documents

In a move some labeled “political theater,” the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted last week to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his continued refusal to turn over documents related to a failed covert operation called Fast and Furious.

Fast and Furious was an effort that began in 2009 and allegedly involved the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agency allowing guns to be sold to Mexican drug cartel members and “walked” into Mexico in an effort to develop criminal cases against the cartel.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.