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An image of Trayvon Martin was prominently displayed behind the child who recited the Pledge of Allegiance on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). The poster of Trayvon Martin depicts him wearing a grey hoodie and holding a sign that reads, “I Am a Man.” The poster hung in the background as Cedric Richmond Jr., son of Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), recited the pledge from New Orleans during the final night of the live-streamed convention. In February 2012, former neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman shot and killed the teenage Martin in self-defense. He was charged, tried, then cleared of all...

In the wake of the George Floyd riots, police are being demonized across the country, each and every officer now being held responsible for the action of its least-worthy members. They're also being targeted for 'defunding' as if any society on earth could exist without some measure of policing without turning into Lord of the Flies. It's getting little coverage, but the stories are dribbling out in rapidly about a collective call for help: Some 272 New York police officers retired in the wake of George Floyd riots, a 49% spike over the year earlier. Seattle was similar - its...

Obama, Hu toast 'strategic mutual trust' at state dinnerBy Christina Wilkie - 01/19/11 10:30 PM ET President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao toasted U.S. and Chinese collaboration and mutual interests on Wednesday night at a festive state dinner for 225 guests at the White House. Their toasts marked the high point of an evening notable for its strict adherence to the protocol and symbolism valued in Chinese culture, but which, at the same time, managed to fulfill the Chinese delegation's request for a thoroughly American dinner party. Guests dined on a meal of pear salad, lobster, ribeye steak and...

ABC NEWS: The Democratic Debate 02/07/20 10:30 p.m. Eastern PITTS: So, Biden isn't expected to do well in New Hampshire. He has to do well in South Carolina which has a larger black vote. Race didn't come up in this debate until about nine minutes in and it came up from Tom Steyer who brought it up and then they engaged. One thing I have to say about all the candidates, when it came to the conversation about race 9 minutes in, I thought in some ways all the candidates were tone deaf. Because so often when they discuss race,...

President Trump signed a bipartisan bill on Monday that makes certain acts of animal cruelty a federal felony, saying it’s important for the nation to combat “heinous and sadistic acts of cruelty." The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act (PACT) prohibits extreme acts of cruelty, including intentional crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impalement, carried out against "living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians." “Aaaw isn’t this wonderfully heart-warming!” respond some amigos. “Especially as President Trump cited the hero military dog Conan during the signing ceremony!”Perhaps. But let’s look more closely at the issue—especially at some of this legislation’s most fervent sponsors:“The...

Remember Marie Harf? She served as President Obama's Deputy State Department spokeswoman from July 2013 to May 2015, often providing the press updates on the White House's efforts to combat terror abroad. One of the most memorable moments of her tenure, however, was in 2015 when she told MSNBC's Chris Matthews that the U.S. could not defeat ISIS by killing them and suggested that poverty is what led terrorists to the battlefield in the first place. She received plenty of criticism for the remark, but shrugged it off by saying they were simply too "nuanced." Following her highly public role...

Newt Gingrich took the stage at the Georgia Republican Party state convention on Saturday wearing a Mitt Romney sticker, focusing his attacks on President Barack Obama and attempting to energize the crowd around his former Republican rival. "To every conservative, everywhere in America: When your choice on the one hand is Barack Obama, and your choice on the other hand is Mitt Romney, no serious conservative could possibly believe that electing Barack Obama is acceptable ... for America."

It's no surprise to see presidential candidates pandering to contributors. But what is disappointing is how far some of them will go to take care of those who take care of them.Imagine being so eager to please the money crowd that you'll try to destroy a reform measure that is reasonable and helpful, especially when the help is going to the same folks you claim to represent. That's what happened recently when the major Democratic presidential candidates made a pilgrimage to the annual convention of the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union with 3.2 million members, and --...

The Democrats will do John Murtha’s bidding. He owns them. It’s over. The House of Representatives will vote to defund the Iraq War, Mitch McConnell will have to fight a battle royal to prevent that sentiment from carrying the senate. There are those who would ask if I’m from Planet Murtha and they may even wonder if I’ve responsibly redeployed my common sense to Okinawa. When the new congress organized, Murtha was elected dog that runs behind Steny Hoyer. He should be the man whose view stays the same every day. This would hold true; except for one small thing....

Nearly 30 years after Chicago Cubs outfielder Rick Monday snatched an American flag from two idiots at Dodger Stadium who had doused it in lighter fluid and were trying to light it with a match, we still applaud him for his exemplary act of patriotism — for acting on our behalf. As devoted as we are to free speech, we would have been hard-pressed to bottle our anger over the desecration of the Stars and Stripes before tens of thousand of spectators. Our appreciation of Monday was not diminished by his appearance last week at a rally for a proposed...