Politics. On Point.

President Obama was busy at the podium in the James Brady briefing room Friday. Earlier in the day he announced the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shisenki amid allegations of nationwide misconduct within the Veteran Administration's (VA) hospitals. Before that, he announced that Shinseki would be firing a few officials within the VA hierarchy.  Said the president to reporters in the briefing room, "Secretary Shinseki has now begun the process of firing many of the people responsible, including senior leaders at the Phoenix VA.  He’s canceled any possible performance bonuses this year for VHA senior executives.  And he has ordered the VA to personally contact every veteran in Phoenix waiting for appointments to get them the care that they need and that they deserve.  The president said he would hold accountable those responsible, and it looks like Shinseki  also made that list. "Last week, I said that if we found misconduct, it would be punishe...

The First Family remarks on the passing of American novelist and poet, Dr. Maya Angelou today.  In his remarks President Obama writes: When her friend Nelson Mandela passed away last year, Maya Angelou wrote that “No sun outlasts its sunset, but will rise again, and bring the dawn.” Today, Michelle and I join millions around the world in remembering one of the brightest lights of our time – a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman . Over the course of her remarkable life, Maya was many things – an author, poet, civil rights activist, playwright, actress, director, composer, singer and dancer. But above all, she was a storyteller – and her greatest stories were true. A childhood of suffering and abuse actually drove her to stop speaking – but the voice she found helped generations of Americans find their rainbow amidst the clouds, and inspired the rest of us to be our best selves. In fact, she inspired my own mother to name my sister Maya. Like so m...

On yesterday the nation, once again, took a day to remember its veterans who lost their lives serving their country.  Amid the wreath laying, motorcycles roaring, flags waving, and parades, the fact remains that the country's surviving veterans need help, and the institutions put in place to assist them, are shrouded in incompetency and bureaucracy. Last yea r, we spoke to two individuals who are products of the United States armed forces as they told us stories of their families and loved ones who served, and their struggles with the Veterans Administration office to get the services they desperately need. Outside the Department of Veteran Affairs in Washington, DC on a cold February day, our interviewee had this message for the Department of Veteran Affairs, and President Obama . "Help the veterans, because they deserve it more than anybody else in this country." The VA has come under fire (again) for its mismanagement of veterans' cases leaving some...

A star-studded cast of characters graced the red carpet inside the Washington Hilton Saturday night for the annual, Springtime Hollywood-comes-to-Washington extravaganza that is the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. The gala awards scholarships to deserving journalism students and recognizes those in the journalism field. From the WHDC.net website... "This year's winners for the Aldo Beckman Memorial Award, which recognizes repeated excellence in White House coverage, went to Glenn Thrush of Politico and Brianna Keilar of CNN while winners of the Merriman Smith Memorial Award, which recognizes deadline work in both print and broadcast, honored Peter Baker of the New York Times and Peter Maer of CBS.  The Edgar A. Poe Award, which recognizes coverage of news of national or regional significance, went to  Megan Twohey and a team at Reuters, and a joint work by The Center for Public Integrity in partnership with ABC News. An Honorable mention goes to The ...

"The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights"  Gloria Steinem Just two months after the world celebrated International Women's Day , we find that more than 200 Nigerian girls have been kidnapped and thought to be sold by the infamous   Islamic Jihadist group, Boko Haram . Nigeria is calling for the help of all nations to help in finding and releasing the young girls, many of whom are under the age of seventeen. During conversations at yesterday's White House press briefing, the subject of what the United States is doing to assist Nigeria in the search and rescue efforts to find the missing girls and bring them home, Press Secretary Carney stated, " What I can tell you is that we view what has happened there as an outrage and a terrible tragedy.  The President has been  briefed  several times and his national security team continues to...

President Obama met with Djibouti's president Ismail Omar Guelleh on Monday at the White House where the two (per the White House press office) " discussed their shared vision for addressing human capital and economic development challenges in Djibouti."  The president praised Guelleh for  his commitment to lowering unemployment, reducing poverty, and improving reliable access to energy, potable water, and health care. Photos/CD Brown The United States pledged to increase technical and financial assistance to the Djiboutian people and to invest in Djibouti’s development priorities.  President Obama pledged to expand U.S.-sponsored workforce education and training to help strengthen Djibouti’s workforce and set a foundation for expanded employment and private sector investment. While Guelleh was receiving praise on the inside of the White House, demonstrators  on the outside  protested the visit to shed light on the Djibouti's huma...

So, the last time Paul Ryan visited an "inner city" was when?   The last time Paul Ryan talked to a group of African American men, in any "inner city" was when? Long line in a Sodexho food service job fair. Photo/ John Spink of the AC Journal. We'll have to assume Paul Ryan doesn't spend a lot of time in inner cities, since he is a part of a crowd that does everything it can to disenfranchise residents of inner cities. Yes, the unemployment rate in inner cities across the country is high.  But it isn't because men of color don't want to work, as Ryan suggests when he stated the following on a a conservative talk radio show. Said Ryan, “We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning to value the culture of work, so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with.” Veterans crowd the "Hiring Our Heroes...