After being “stopped and frisked” by the NYPD more times than he can count, Avaaz member Tyquan started a petition calling on Mayor Bloomberg to end the racially charged policy. Stand with Tyquan and the over 200,000 people stopped this year alone – sign the petition now:
When the Museum of African American History and Culture opens on the National Mall in 2015, it will be “not just a record of tragedy, but a celebration of life,” as President Obama said during the ground breaking ceremony on the site today.
The museum, the 19th in the Smithsonian Institution, will feature objects collected from across the country that tell the stories that make up the African American experience, including personal items that belonged to Harriet Tubman and one of the planes flown by the Tuskegee Airmen. Lonny Bunch, the museum’s Founding Director, gives us a first look at some of the treasures that will be on display. Watch it now:
Last night, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted an incredible group of performers for a night of blues music as part of the PBS “In Performance at the White House” series. After a little encouragement from the legendary B.B. King, the President took the mic from Mick Jagger, and sang a few lines from, “Sweet Home Chicago.” Watch:
Posted by Kendra Barkoff on February 21, 2012 at 7:32 PM EST
Vice President Joe Biden holds a conference call in the West Wing to thank first responders and to discuss the economic value of increasing spectrum, Feb. 21, 2012. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)
Today, Vice President Biden met with law enforcement officials, firefighters and public safety groups in the Roosevelt Room and spoke to a couple hundred more first responders by telephone to thank them for their service and to discuss the new nationwide public-safety broadband network included in the Payroll Tax Extension legislation.
Members of the audience included police chiefs and sergeants from the New York City Police Department, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the National Association of Police Organization, among others. The Vice President discussed the need to ensure the safety of first responders and the public,and announced a new report from the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) that discusses the positive benefits of wireless broadband for public safety as well as jobs, growth, and investment.
The report illustrates the economic impact of President Obama’s goal of doubling the amount of spectrum available for wireless broadcast over ten years, while adopting a nationwide inter operable wireless network.
Vice President Biden said the expanded access “will enable new spectrum to be used for innovation, to speed wireless communication, and to fulfill a promise made to first responders after 9/11 that they would have the technology they need to stay safe and do their jobs.”
“I’ve been working on changing the way we allocate spectrum for a long time,” Vice President Biden said, “because a smarter system is good for our economy, good for innovation, and vital to keeping our communities as well as our cops, firefighters and EMTs safe.”
To provide for this projected traffic growth, much of it due to the increase in usage of smartphones, tablets, and other internet-enabled mobile devices, the Obama Administration has proposed making an additional 500 MHz of public airwaves, known as spectrum, available for wireless broadband access.
Making wireless broadband more widely available has the potential to transform many parts of the American economy, opening the door to everything from products that make businesses more productive and tools that help doctors and nurses provide better health care at lower costs to making it easier for people to interact with media-rich mobile apps and high-definition streaming video.
In addition, wireless broadband plays a vital role in enabling emergency personnel to communicate efficiently and to obtain necessary information quickly, including real-time videos, images, and other data, even when first responders are working across jurisdictional lines.
Today, Vice President Biden announced a new nationwide public safety broadband network that President Obama will soon sign into law as part of the payroll tax extension. The new legislation will create a nationwide inter-operable public safety broadband network that will, for the first time, allow law enforcement, firefighters and EMTs to have a dedicated communications network so they can talk with one another.
Read more about the benefits of a robust wireless broadband system in the CEA report.
Since the formation of the White House Rural Council in June 2011, we have had a unique opportunity to provide recommendations on how to grow the economy and create jobs in rural America.
The feedback we’re providing to the White House, based on our travels throughout the countryside, has helped us find creative ways to move the country forward without relying on Congress to act because rural Americans can’t wait.
Today’s announcements are the result of the Rural Council’s ability to cut across large federal agencies to deliver results for rural families and businesses. Along with colleagues at the Departments of Commerce, Health and Human Services, and Labor, we announced three new ways to leverage existing programs and funding to drive economic growth in rural communities.
These announcements include:
Promoting A Bioeconomy: President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum today directing the federal government to dramatically increase the purchase of biobased products over the next two years, which will create jobs and drive innovation where biobased products are grown and manufactured. The biobased products sector marries the two most important economic engines for rural America: agriculture and manufacturing.
Rural Jobs Accelerator: We are launching a national competition, providing about $15 million for projects that promote innovation-fueled regional job creation. The competition will combine funding from USDA, the Economic Development Administration, Delta Regional Authority and the Appalachian Regional Commission. USDA will utilize our Rural Community Development Initiative program to support this effort and provide technical assistance and training funds to qualified intermediary organizations to develop their capacity to undertake housing, community facilities, and community and economic development projects in rural areas.
Rural Health IT Workforce: The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor signed a memorandum of understanding to connect community colleges and technical colleges that support rural communities with the materials and resources they need to support the training of Health Information Technology (HIT) professionals that work in rural hospitals and clinics.
Click here to learn more about the efforts of the White House Rural Council.
President Barack Obama, with Vice President Joe Biden, discusses the importance of the agreement passed by Congress to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance while speaking in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Feb. 21, 2012. The President urged Congress to build on the success of the agreement by taking additional steps to create jobs, grow the economy and help the middle class. The President and Vice President were joined by Americans who have shared their stories on WhiteHouse.gov and Twitter about what $40 a paycheck means to them. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
This morning, President Obama hosted an event at the White House to talk about the payroll tax cut — which Congress voted to extend last week.
Flanked by a group of Americans who shared stories about what they would be forced to give up without the tax cut, he gave credit to all of those who added their voices to the debate:
This got done because of you; because you called, you emailed, you tweeted your representatives and you demanded action. You made it clear that you wanted to see some common sense in Washington. And because you did, no working American is going to see their taxes go up this year. That’s good news. Because of what you did, millions of Americans who are out there still looking for work are going to continue to get help with unemployment insurance. That’s because of you.
Posted by Melanie Kaye on February 21, 2012 at 4:39 PM EST
Tomorrow, Dr. Jill Biden and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis will embark on a three-day “Community College to Career” bus tour to highlight innovative industry initiativesthat are helping train students with the skills they need to meet area workforce needs.
President Obama recently announced an $8 billion Community College to Career Fund, co-administered by the Department of Labor and Department of Education,which will help forge new partnerships between community colleges and businesses to train two million workers with skills that will lead directly to jobs.
Check out this video from Secretary Solis asking for community college faculty, students and industry partners to share their stories. Got a story to share? Head over to WhiteHouse.gov/CommunityCollege/Tour to tell us about it or share your story on Twitter using the hashtag #CCtour.
On January 18, 2011, the President issued Executive Order 13563, in which he directed regulatory agencies to base regulations on an “open exchange of information and perspectives” and to promote public participation in Federal rulemaking. The President identified Regulations.gov as the centralized portal for timely public access to regulatory content online.
In response to the President’s direction, Regulations.gov has launched a major redesign, including innovative new search tools, social media connections, and better access to regulatory data. The result is a significantly improved website that will help members of the public to engage with agencies and ultimately to improve the content of rules.
The redesign of Regulations.gov also fulfills the President’s commitment in The Open Government Partnership National Action Plan to “improve public services,” including to “expand public participation in the development of regulations.” This step is just one of many, consistent with the National Action Plan, designed to make our Federal Government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative.
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are technical interfaces/tools that allow people to pull regulatory content from Regulations.gov. For most of us, the addition of “APIs” on Regulations.gov doesn’t mean much, but for web managers and experts in the applications community, providing APIs will fundamentally change the way people will be able to interact with public federal regulatory data and content.
Last Friday, President Obama traveled to the Boeing aerospace factory in Everett, Washington. He met with workers and discussed his blueprint for an economy built to last with the renewed strength of American manufacturing. Part of the President’s message will focus on the Administration’s commitment to strong enforcement of U.S. trade agreements. The enforcement of trade agreements is vital to the success of large U.S. exporters like Boeing, as well as hundreds of firms of every size throughout Boeing’s global supply chain.
Here in the United States, from Washington to Kansas to South Carolina, tens of thousands of Americans depend on Boeing and its suppliers for a job and a place to put their skills to work. Trade agreements that guarantee a level playing field for global competition help make it possible for Boeing to sell its airplanes around the world in support of jobs here at home.
Boeing, like other American companies, knows from experience the importance of strong trade enforcement. For many years, the EU and its various member states provided Airbus, Boeing’s main global competitor, with more than $18 billion in subsidies. As a result, Boeing has been competing on an un-level playing field – losing market share and possible job-creating opportunities.
Fortunately, last year the Obama Administration secured a victory against EU subsidies to Airbus. It was the largest verdict in the history of the World Trade Organization. USTR is currently working to ensure that the EU implements the necessary changes and stops the illegal subsidies. Once implemented, this decision will lead to a more level playing field for Boeing and its many suppliers across America who support well-paying jobs for tens of thousands of hard-working Americans.
On October 31, 2011 President Obama signed an Executive Order directing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take action to help further prevent and reduce prescription drug shortages, protect consumers and prevent price gouging. Nearly four months later, it’s clear that the President’s Executive Order and the good work of the FDA are making a difference for the American people.
Since President Obama signed his Executive Order, FDA has prevented 114 drug shortages. In part, this resulted from the Administration’s call for voluntarily notification to the FDA of potential shortages. Notification of a potential shortage is crucial: with enough advance warning, FDA can take action to help stop a potential drug shortage. And since President Obama signed his Executive Order, voluntary notifications have increased six-fold.
Today, the FDA is announcing the steps it has taken to end the shortage of two important drugs that fight cancer:
To avert an impending shortage of methotrexate, a drug used to treat children with leukemia, the FDA has worked with manufacturers to help ramp up production and has approved a new application to produce the version of the drug that is most needed , which will further bolster supply and ensure patients have access to this lifesaving medicine.
To end the shortage of the cancer drug Doxil, the FDA will allow the temporary importation of a replacement drug. This action should address patient needs and end this drug shortage.
The FDA is also responding to President Obama’s Executive Order by releasing new draft guidance for the drug industry on requirements for both mandatory and voluntary notification to FDA of issues that could result in a drug shortage.
In May of 2010 New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams spoke out against the NYPD‘s”Stop and Frisk” policy and highlighted the prejudices of the system.
“If you have more melanin in your skin you are more likely to be stopped…we should be allowed to walk freely.” Councilman Williams
At this year’s Labor Day Parade in Brooklyn Jumaane Williams was inappropriately profiled and detained by the NYPD. Councilman Williams has written a special guest blog for us here at The Black Institute about the situation.
Read it and tell us what you think about how we can move forward towards change!
Less than 24 hours after two terror suspects were arrested trying to purchase guns and grenades in New York City, Congress failed to pass a measure to close the Terror Gap.
The Terror Gap is a loophole in our background check system that permits suspects on the FBI’s terrorist watch list to legally obtain guns and explosives. Suspects on the watch list cannot board an airplane, but they can pass a background check and purchase guns and explosives.
Thankfully, the NYC plotters were already under surveillance by the NYPD, but as details emerged, the House Judiciary Committee voted to keep the Terror Gap open and leave America vulnerable.
This is just the latest reminder that we must keep fighting to close this dangerous loophole. And we can’t let the gun lobby or anyone else stand in the way of this common sense reform.
Thank you for signing our petition to close the Terror Gap in the past. Please forward this email to your friends and family and ask them to join you today.
Again and again, terror suspects have passed background checks and bought guns and explosives. In fact, suspects on the terror watch list have purchased guns more than 1,300 times in the past 6 years.
That’s why Mayors and law enforcement officials all across the country are calling on Congress to take the commonsense step of closing the Terror Gap right away.
Now, our elected officials need to hear from you. Please raise your voice today and let Congress know that terror suspects shouldn’t be allowed to get their hands on guns.
Ask your friends and family to add their names and send Congress a message: It’s time to close the Terror Gap.
This is no time to be giving terror suspects easy access to deadly weapons. We need to speak out and make sure Congress closes this dangerous loophole before it’s too late.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is among the world leaders scheduled to speak today at a United Nations summit on global goals to fight poverty, hunger, and disease. Ahmadinejad, whose controversial re-election set off weeks of protests in Iran in June 2009, “is on a public relations offensive this week in New York, addressing the session on tackling world poverty, giving interviews and speaking Thursday in the assembly’s general debate.” On Sunday, Ahmadinejad told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour that after he helped free American hiker Sarah Shourd, President Obama should reciprocate by releasing Iranians held by the U.S. for sanctions violations, though “U.S. officials have said those cases have nothing to do with each other.” Ahmadinejad will likely try to use his visit to the United Nations as an opportunity to increase his domestic support, as he has recently come under increased criticism by other Iranian conservatives for his handling of the economy and flamboyant statements. The head of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, also blasted Ahmadinejad “for criticizing a court verdict against the former head of state news agency IRNA” for his statements about pro-reform Green movement leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. Protesters are planning demonstrations today against Ahmadinejad, and “the New York City Police Department has ramped up security for the assembly.”
MULTI-TRACK EFFORT: Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York comes as the Islamic Republic is coming under increased sanctions pressure. The initial phase of President Obama’s Iran policy involved an effort to step back from the Bush administration’s belligerent stance, and to demonstrate a good faith willingness to negotiate with Iran. After talks last year over Iran’s program failed to achieve sufficient progress after Iran was unable to respond in time to a proposed nuclear fuel swap, the administration turned to the pressure track, primarily through the use of financial sanctions. Speaking yesterday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey said, “It is not just my prediction that this strategy can have significant impact; it has already begun to do so. The financial measures the U.S. and others are implementing are imposing serious costs and constraints on Iran.” White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said on Monday that, “The door is open to them having a better relationship with the United States and with the international community,” but “Iran is going to have to demonstrate its commitment to show its peaceful intent around its nuclear program.” Rhodes also said that “the cost that Iran is facing has been greater than it was expecting with regard to sanctions.”
TENSIONS IN REGIME: Recent statements by Iranian power-broker Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani seem to confirm Levey’s and Rhodes’ comments. Speaking last week before the Assembly of Experts, Iran’s most senior clerical body, Rafsanjani said “you should be vigilant and careful. … Do not downplay the sanctions.” Rafsanjani added, “We have never had such intensified sanctions and they are getting more and more intensified every day. Wherever we find a loophole, they [Western powers] block it.” Reuters also reported that “divisions within the ruling elite have become increasingly evident in recent months as opposition protests over Ahmadinejad’s re-election in June 2009 have died down.” The increased international pressure may also be having an effect on Iranian public support for the nuclear program, long seen as a consensus issue among Iranians. Leila Chamankah, a professor at Azad University in Tehran, wrote that “many Iranians are dubious now about the country’s nuclear program” because of the perceived international costs. “At the popular level,” wrote Chamankah, “a separate motivation has taken shape: pride in the technical prowess embodied in the program, but opposition to Iran becoming a nuclear power and all that it would mean for its relationship with the West.”
POLICY OPTIONS: While sanctions are clearly having an effect on the Iranian regime, the question remains what those effects, and the current tensions within the Iranian government, mean for U.S. policy. Surveying the tensions, former State Department Iran adviser Ray Takeyh is skeptical that the current measure will lead to a positive outcome in the near term, writing, “For the near future, Iran’s international relations will be conditioned by the vagaries of the complex relationship between [Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, which means its policies are likely to be characterized by contradiction and inconsistency.” Unless there is a more creative approach to Iran policy, George Washington University’s Marc Lynch predicts “a relentless slide towards a replay of the Iraq saga of the 1990′s: a steady ratcheting-up of sanctions, which increasingly impact the Iranian people but fail to compel change in the regime’s political behavior; episodic and frequent diplomatic crises which consume the world’s diplomatic attention and resources; the growing militarization and polarization of the Gulf; ongoing uncertainty about Iranian intentions and capabilities.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stressed that “the goal [of sanctions] was to stop the Islamic regime without harming innocent civilians.” A recent poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs showed that “Americans are at present reluctant to resort to a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, preferring economic sanctions and diplomacy.” Indicating agreement with the administration’s position on Iran’s nuclear rights and responsibilities, a majority of 52 percent also said that if Iran were to allow U.N. inspectors “permanent and full access throughout Iran to make sure it is not developing nuclear weapons,” then it “should be allowed to produce nuclear fuel for producing electricity.
President Barack Obama, with Vice President Joe Biden, discusses the importance of the agreement passed by Congress to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance while speaking in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Feb. 21, 2012. The President urged Congress to build on the success of the agreement by taking additional steps to create jobs, grow the economy and help the middle class. The President and Vice President were joined by Americans who have shared their stories on WhiteHouse.gov and Twitter about what $40 a paycheck means to them. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
