Free Republic

U.S. Congressman Hansen Clarke of Detroit has introduced a “ban the box” bill that would prevent employers from asking employees about criminal convictions on job applications until they made a conditional job offer. Applications often have a box that asks applicants if they have been convicted of a crime. The exception to asking about a criminal conviction in H.R. 6220 is when hiring the person may "involve an unreasonable risk to the safety of specific individuals or to the general public.”

Democrats in House of Reps. joined J Street in supporting Obama administration's attempt to force Israel into making painful concessions Seventy-four Democrats in the House of Representatives have joined the dovish J Street organization in supporting the Obama administration's attempt to force Israel into making painful concessions to the Palestinian Authority. “In our view, support for a two-state resolution is inseparable from such support for Israel, its special relationship with the United States, and its very survival as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people,” the letter said. Seven Jewish members signed the letter, including Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), John...

Detroit congressional districts likely to cross Eight Mile Road in search for black votersBy Associated Press, Wednesday, March 23, 8:51 PM LANSING, Mich. — Mostly black Detroit, facing diminished congressional clout after losing a quarter of its population over the past decade, likely will have to reach farther into its mostly white suburbs to keep black majorities in its two congressional districts. **SNIP** Nearly four decades after the 1967 riots that hastened white flight, four of every five Detroit residents are black. So are the city’s two congressmen, 81-year-old veteran John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee,...