Jamelle digs into the Times story on the growing numbers of young people who are self-identifying as “mixed race.” The great majority of intermarriages take place between Hispanics, Asians, and whites. If there is a great population of multiracial people, it’s almost certain that they will be some combination of Hispanic and white, or Asian Read More
Haiti is struggling to rebuild after last year’s catastrophic earthquake and trying to resolve its national elections, but it was thrown another curveball late this weekend: the return of its corrupt and brutal former dictator, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier. No one seems to know why he’s back — he says he’s there “for the reconstruction Read More
I don’t want to spend too much time licking shots at the Obama White House’s approach to DADT’s repeal, which at times seemed half-assed and even now looks like kind of lucky. In the end, President Obama’s strategy worked after all. But it worked not so much because it was a brilliant strategy but because Read More
In his piece for the Root, McWhorter argues that food access is not really a problem, and that it is not related with obesity levels. He gets many things very, very wrong.
Over at TAP today, I talk about the fine line we want food stamp recipients to walk: We don’t like the idea that they may be “mis-spending” public money on nutrient-poor foods like soda, and we also, according to The Daily Caller, anyway, don’t think they should be spending money on expensive fish. Also, poor Read More
Earlier this year, the success of Urban Prep Academy, an all-black, all-male charter school near Chicago, was the subject of rapturous praise for sending all of its graduating seniors to four-year colleges. It makes sense that this story has gotten a lot of positive press; it’s a respite from the parade of depressing-ass statistics we Read More
Adam Serwer on this afternoon’s crushing defeat “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal: More than 60 senators, enough to overcome a filibuster, agreed DADT should end. Military leadership has endorsed repeal. Volumes of empirical evidence, including the Pentagon’s own study and the experiences of the U.S.’s own military allies, show that ending the policy would offer Read More
What’s good, everyone? Sorry for the late roundup. I’m subbing for blackink, who just upped and moved to the A and is still getting settled in. Some stuff to turn over as you go about your day… It’s kind of a moot point now, but this chart, via Ezra Klein, shows how much folks would Read More
It took a lame duck session and some nasty compromises to do it, but the House finally passed S. 3307, the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill, which is aimed at feeding more children in school (and making that food more nutritious). The Senate version differs significantly from the (better) House version of the bill (comparison Read More
Liberals have always had a hard time dealing with fatherhood and family programs designed for low-income families. On the one hand, some of the arguments behind the creation of programs for low-income families that demonstrate healthy relationships and encourage fathers to be emotionally involved in their children’s lives is a good thing on its face: Read More
