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President Obama pauses while delivering the commencement address to the U.S. Military Academy at West Points Class of 2014, in West Point, N.Y. (Associated Press) ** FILE ** more >

President Obama said that America is less racially divided than it was six years ago in an interview with NPR set to air Monday.

NPR Host Steve Inskeep asked Mr. Obama if the U.S. is more racially divided than it was when he took office in 2008.

No I actually think that its probably in its day-to-day interactions less racially divided, Mr. Obama responded, NPR reported.

Mr. Obamas comment comes on the heels of protesting over racial police violence after grand juries decided not to indict police officers for the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. and Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y.

Following the grand jurys decision not to indict Officer Dan Pantaleo in the killing of Mr. Garner, Mr. Obama said that racial bias in the justice system was an American problem.

Its incumbent on all of us as Americansthat we recognize that this is an American problem and not just a black problem. It is an American problem when anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law, Mr. Obama said in a news conference earlier this month.

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Obama: America 'less racially divided' than 2008

The lonely progressives Posted By Max Brantley on Sat, Dec 27, 2014 at 7:08 AM An op-ed from the New York Times has some resonance in today's Arkansas. It's by a Nebraska "progressive" and her participation in groups that soldier on in a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1936 and has an all-Republican congressional and state legislative membership. None of the Republicans acknowledges atmospheric change.

Occasionally, there's common purpose. Republicans have joined the fight in Nebraska against the Keystone XL pipeline.

Mostly, though, the old-timers of the small progressive community are the "royalty of lost causes." They lose, but they keep working. This year, though, was hard.

The evening after this dismal election, we met for our usual potluck. At first, a few of us tried to point out slivers of silver linings, but then one of our members said flatly, We are doomed. What followed was a sad discussion of our broken political system, big money in politics, Fox News and four more years of inaction on environmental issues. This was the first meeting in my memory in which I felt worse at the end instead of better.

The writer ends on an upbeat note with some small environmental victories and a couple of promising candidates. They'll soldier on. Surrender isn't an option.

Tags: liberalism, Republican dominance

Originally posted here:
The lonely progressives

Vice-Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo | credits: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com

The Vice Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, has said poor management of resources rather than the lack of resources has been the bane of nations economy.

Proper management, according to Osinbajo, has been dodging the country for a while.

The problem is management of resources. If we plug the loopholes, youll see the resources being pooled together.

Osinbajo said this on Saturday at a parley with journalists at his campaign office in Victoria Island, Lagos.

He said insecurity would be the first thing his government would tackle as it affected every Nigerian irrespective of ethnic group, class or creed.

Security is the first duty of any government; you cannot fight a war where leadership is uncertain; where leadership is not sure of itself and its responsibilities.

The type of leadership we need to successfully fight a war is lacking. The commander-in-chief has responsibility for everything. You cant continue to say your enemies did this or that. Youve got to take responsibility and that is what is lacking in the current dispensation.

The people I talked to in my bus trips, both men and women asked, What are you doing about the Chibok girls? I was surprised that people here in Lagos could be that concerned. It shows everyone is concerned. My take is that as the president, you should visit these places, talk to them and let them see that you are doing something. And one of the things to be done is equipping the military.

Osinbajo added that corruption had become the norm in Nigeria, especially in the civil service.

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Jonathans government not responsible Osinbajo

Akinwunmi Ambode

The Lagos State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Akinwunmi Ambode, has alleged that the Federal Government owed the state N51bn.

Ambode stated that there has been no meaningful federal project in Lagos State since 1999.

He therefore urged Lagosians to vote for the APC at the governorship and presidential elections next year in order to make the state and federal governments to work in synergy for the progress of the state.

Ambode, who is a former Accountant-General of the state, said this during the 10,000-man March organised by the Ambode Youth Initiative in Lagos on Saturday.

He said, If you want heavy traffic on the Third Mainland Bridge to stop, ensure that the APC gets to the centre. They (Federal Government) dont allow us to make any meaningful changes on that bridge.

In the past 16 years, no Federal Government project has been done in Lagos. They owe us N51bn for all the projects that we have been doing on Federal Government property. I just need half of that money to make all the changes that we need.

The governorship candidate said, having worked as a civil servant for 27 years, he understood the workings of the state. He therefore urged the people of the state to vote for experienced people and not beginners.

He said he was a grass roots politician, adding that he had worked in the local government service for 10 years and was at various times the council treasurer in Alimosho, Somolu, Mushin and Ajeromi-Ifelodun local government councils before rising to become the youngest ever auditor-general for local government in the state.

He said he would ensure job creation in Lagos and improve security, which he stated was already being taken care of by the Lagos State Security Trust Fund.

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FG owes Lagos N51bn Ambode

The South East zonal spokesman of the All Progressives Congress, Osita Okechukwu, has commended members of the party in Enugu State for being the highest donors to General Muhammadu Buharis Support Fund.

Okechukwu, in a statement made available to journalists, explained that the fund, to which the masses can donate only N100, has so far garnered N54m.

Okechukwu told members of the APC in Enugu State that Buhari would remain grateful for their contribution, which, according to him, shows clearly that the celestial bond between him (Buhari) and the masses and the middle class is Pan-Nigerian and that Nigerians are earnestly yearning for regime change.

I commend my people for being a critical chain in the Buhari-Bandwagon-Vehicle for Salvation, so that tomorrow nobody can marginalize Ndigbo, Okechukwu added.

He noted that Buhari has 60 percent chance of winning the 14th February, 2015 presidential election, because, according to him, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is the de facto campaign manager of General Muhammadu Buhari.

According to Okechukwu, Buharis election became imperative because Jonathan failed to guarantee the welfare and security of Nigerian citizens.

President Jonathan lacks neither the political will to stem corruption nor to fight Boko Haram, that is the GMB (General Muhammadu Buhari) appeal, even from unlikely quarters like South South and South East.

It is my candid view that our dear president wasted golden opportunity by failing woefully to fulfill the promises he made four years ago.

For instance on 13th May, 2010, he awarded a $23bn contract for the construction of three greenfield refineries; one to be located at Bayelsa, one for Lagos and one for Kogi five years down the line the money had grown wings and the refineries dead on arrival, Okechukwu said in the statement.

He noted that the failure to build the proposed refineries had resulted in the squandering of over N2trillion annually on importation of refined petroleum products, the devaluation of the naira, gross unemployment, collapse of the textile and ancillary industries, as well as a huge foreign debt profile.

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Enugu APC donated largest amount to Buhari -Spokesman