Politics. On Point.

Former Kansas senator Bob Dole was honored at the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award ( civilrights.org ) dinner Wednesday night. Senator Bob Dole, awarded for his role in civil and human rights.  Photo CD Brown. Dole is also known for championing the rights of the disadvantaged and the disabled.  He spent thirty-five years in Congress beginning in 1960 and was chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1971 to 1972. Dole, 92, holds the record as the nation's longest serving Republican leader.  He is also known for his role and accomplishments in health care, foreign affairs and deficit reduction. Also honored was former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder was the 82nd, and first African American attorney general serving under the first African American U.S. president Barack Obama, since 2009.  Holder came under fire for his stance on  Benghazi , the  Ferguson investigation  and as of late, the so-called  war on...

In what could be considered an out-of-touch-with-regular-folk moment, Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters Friday he was shocked that law enforcement uses citizens to generate revenue. "The notion that you would use a law enforcement agency or law enforcement generally to generate revenue, and then the callous way in which that was done and the impact that it had on the lives of the ordinary citizens of that municipality, was just appalling." Example of fees and costs generated by courts and law enforcement. ( Source ). Holder was referring to the findings of the Department of Justice investigation of the Ferguson, MO police department.  The investigation found that the department "engaged in or practiced a pattern of conduct that violates the Fourth, Fifth, and 14 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. See also:  The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness “Our investigation showed that  Ferguson  police officers routinely vi...

Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today announced a  Correctional Education Guidance Package  aimed at helping states and local agencies strengthen the quality of education services provided to America’s estimated 60,000 young people in confinement every day. This guidance package builds on recommendations in the  My Brother’s Keeper Task Force report  released in May to “reform the juvenile and criminal justice systems to reduce unnecessary interactions for youth and to enforce the rights of incarcerated youth to a quality education.”  Today’s guidance package is a roadmap that states and local agencies can use to improve the quality of educational services for confined youth. “In this great country, all children deserve equal access to a high-quality public education - and this is no less true for children in the juvenile justice system,” said Attorney General Holder.  “At the Department of Justice, we are work...

Days after Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he is resigning his pos t (for reasons many are uncertain of), Holder spoke during the Congressional Black Caucus' panel on voting rights. Holder was the first African American, and longest tenured Attorney General in U.S. history. He has agreed to stay in his post until a successor has been named.  The Department of Justice, which Holder heads, is leading the investigation in Ferguson, Missouri where eighteen year-old Michael Brown was murdered by Darren Wilson of the Ferguson police department. Residents are in awe of Holder's resignation and have become increasingly concerned that justice may not prevail without Holders leadership in ensuring a fair and honest investigation. Holder announced his resignation as the nation celebrates the 50th anniversity of the Civil Rights Act. His remarks during the CBC Voting Rights panel are below. Thank you, Representative [Marcia] Fudge, for those kind words – and than...

Eleven days after another police officer murders another unarmed African American male, tensions continue to run high amid calls for peace and a halt to the unrest by Ferguson officials, residents, and even President Obama. The family and Ferguson residents want justice for eighteen year-old, Michael Brown , who was shot, execution style, by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson . Brown's body lay in street for several moments, with no attempts to revive him, and no ambulance dispatched to the crime scene. A posting and picture of Darren Wilson from his father's Facebook page. Witnesses took to their camera phones to record their account of the incident.  See also [ Reporter talks to Ferguson residents to get on-the-ground response .  Multiple videos]. Many say Brown and a friend were approached by Wilson who pulled Brown into the police car and as Brown struggled to get away, Wilson shot him.   It was still unclear why the two men were approached b...

12 Cities and Counties Receive Grants as Part of New Evidence-Based Prevention Initiative Riding on last week's presidential signing of the Violence Againist Women Act, Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder announced grants to twelve programs across the country to target the urgent need to reduce domestic violence homicides. On average, three women a day die as a result of domestic violence. In total, the Department of Justice will award $2.3 million to twelve sites across the country as part of the new Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention Demonstration Initiative (DVHP Initiative). The DVHP Initiative, created by the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), helps state and local jurisdictions reduce domestic violence homicides by effectively identifying potential victims and monitoring high-risk offenders. The DVHP Initiative is modeled after programs in Massachusetts and Maryland, where the use of coordinated teams of law enforce...

Oh, the difference between Eric Holder testifying on Capitol Hill about his role in the 'Fast and Furious' debacle that saw hundreds of guns enter the pipe line of illegal guns being sold on the US streets from Mexican drug cartel seizures, and today's testimony by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton . While Holder was timid, evasive and subdued Clinton, during one portion of the questioning today on the Benghazi event that killed a US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, decided she'd had enough of the fervent bombardment and line of questioning from the GOP. Clinton confessed that she takes full responsibility for not providing the protection needed in the area on the day of September 11, 2012, the anniversary of the 911 attack here in the U.S. She refuted any claims that the administration gave false Intel into why the American people were told several different versions of exactly what happened during the Benghazi attack. Initially, US Ambass...

The Obama Administration awards “Vets to Cops” hiring grants as part of Veterans Job Corps initiative. The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) today announced funding awards to over 220 cities and counties, aimed at creating or saving approximately 800 law enforcement positions.  The grants will fund over 600 new law enforcement positions and save an additional 200 positions recently lost or in jeopardy of being cut due to local budget cuts.  All new law enforcement positions funded in the COPS 2012 Hiring Program must be filled by recent military veterans who have served at least 180 days since September 11, 2001.  In his State of the Union Address, President Obama called for a new Veterans Jobs Corps initiative to help put veterans back to work on a range of projects that leverage skills developed in the military, including first responder jobs. In February, the President announced that preference for this year’s COPS and S...

You've read what speaker Nancy Pelosi said about Congress holding Attorney General Eric Holder in comtempt for not releasing requested documents to the House Oversight Committee. And you've heard what House Speaker John Boehner had to say . Attorney General Eric Holder talks to reporters on the Hill. Now, read what members of heads of several Congressional caucuses have to say. Chairman Emanuel Cleaver, II   - Congressional Black Caucus "This is a sad day in the history of the United States Congress. Today, we see the great lengths to which some of my colleagues will go in an attempt to discredit the Attorney General--a member of President Obama's Administration--as we near the 2012 election. For over 15 months, Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice has cooperated with the Committee’s inquiry.  The Obama Administration is now rightfully asserting executive privilege over the narrow subset of documents that remain at issue--the same process...

Congress kept the heat on Attorney General Eric Holder for several months, asking Holder to make available several thousand pages of documents pertaining to the Department of Justice's Fast and Furious program which alleges several US firearms have made their way to Mexican drug cartels. Holder has made several appearances in front of the House Oversight Committee over the past year to explain the program and most notably answer questions about any cover up and wrongdoing within the program. Said Holder of the allegations, "From the beginning, Chairman Issa and certain members of the Committee have made unsubstantiated allegations first, then scrambled for facts to try to justify them later. That might make for good political theater, but it does little to uncover the truth or address the problems associated with this operation and prior ones dating back to the previous Administration." Today, President Obama execute...

When one looks at 'Dictionary.com for the definition of 'rape' we find the following answer: For decades the definition of rape was thought to have included just women and young girls only. Today the FBI has decided to do one better. Based on reported data that includes more information from victims, that have included men, the new definition of rape is now: “The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” “These long overdue updates to the definition of rape will help ensure justice for those whose lives have been devastated by sexual violence and reflect the Department of Justice’s commitment to standing with rape victims,” Attorney General Holder said. “This new, more inclusive definition will provide us with a more accurate understanding of the scope and volume of these crimes.” Holder announced revisions to the Uniform Crime Repor...

US Attorney General Under Fire for Gun Tracking Operation US General Eric Holder testified on Capitol Hill today in a hearing on about an operation named Fast and Furious, said to be designed to take illegally purchased weapons from Arizona gun stores across the  border for Mexican drug cartel use. The operation, which began during the George Bush era, came under fire as hundreds of those weapons somehow were lost, untracked, and plainly unaccounted for.  Oddly enough, at least two of the missing weapons were found at a site where Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in December 2010. Republican members of Congress are calling for Holder's job, alluding to Holder being impeached. "There is really no responsibility within the Justice Department," Sensenbrenner said. "The thing is, if we don't get to the bottom of this -- and that requires your assistance on that -- there is only one alternative that Congress has and it is called impeachment."...