Politics and Current
Biden’s world reacts to Morehouse’s response, signaling that the president may raise his concerns in the speech
“What he has done and will continue to do leading up to the speech is to listen very carefully to all the concerns that are raised and make sure that he raises them in the speech or separately and beyond the speech,” said Stephen Benjamin, senior adviser to President Biden and director of the Office of Engagement Public White House. He added: “The war is clearly a very important topic of dialogue… across the country. This is maybe most evident on college campuses now.
Because Morehouse President David A. Thomas announced President Biden as keynote speaker at the all-male college’s a hundred and fortieth commencement on May 19, many students, faculty and alumni expressed opposition to the Biden administration’s policy of supporting Israel’s military operation in Gaza against Hamas, a U.S.-designated organization terrorist attack that killed over 34,000 Palestinians.
Outrage at the war and Biden’s role in it was expressed at a campus town hall between Morehouse students and President Thomas, and a letter was circulated amongst Morehouse graduates calling the president’s invitation “a moral disaster and an embarrassment to the university.” “
“The president is also concerned about civilian casualties, the Palestinian people and their safety,” added Richmond, who noted that the president has “criticized” the way Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is conducting the ground operation in Gaza and has “dedicated significant resources” to Palestinians in Gaza.
A former Biden White House adviser said the president will “continue efforts” for a “long-lasting peace and two-state solution” between Israel and Palestine.
Despite the Biden administration’s actions and campaigns to bring a few peaceful resolution in the Middle East, some alumni see the president’s visit as a direct conflict with the legacy of Morehouse’s most enlightened alumnus: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Dr. King was famous not only for his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement, but also for risking his reputation (and) relationships to speak out against the Vietnam War at the end of his life,” said Edward Mitchell, Morehouse alumnus and deputy director nationally at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “The legacy of speaking out against an unjust war is one that students across the country are living today.”
Mitchell, who signed the letter sent to Morehouse graduates, said that while he understands why the university would normally welcome the president of the United States to deliver the commencement address, the timing is “horrible.”
“When I was at Morehouse, there was no way they would have invited George W. Bush to speak after Hurricane Katrina or at the height of the Iraq War,” he explained. “So why is this acceptable?”
Mitchell said the Biden administration is “living in an alternate reality if it thinks it can speak out” at Morehouse and is “not facing serious criticism from young black men who overwhelmingly oppose the genocide ongoing in Gaza.”
He said that until Biden stops “enabling an unjust, genocidal war,” Morehouse “is not the place he should be,” adding: “His presence is an actual distraction from what ought to be a student- and parent-centered celebration, without the specter of protest or disruption.”
He added: “I know students are angry and frustrated and may decide that speaking up is more important than a peaceful ceremony. The decision is theirs alone.”
Controversy aside, Benjamin and Richmond, two of the most distinguished Black men advising Biden in the White House and on the campaign, say the president selected to attend Morehouse’s graduation ceremony to honor HBCUs’ wealthy history in developing Black male leaders.
“When a president agrees to speak at a school, he is recognizing the value of the school, the value of the students, and in Morehouse’s case, the impact and legacy that the school has had on the history of this country,” said Richmond, an authority on former U.S. congressman from New Orleans, Louisiana.
“Whether it’s being a teacher, an engineer, a lawyer, a doctor, or being Secretary of Homeland Security like Jeh Johnson. At school, we educate people who change communities and the world.”
When President Biden delivers his speech on the Morehouse campus in the heart of Atlanta, he’ll develop into the second sitting U.S. president to accomplish that. The first was President Barack Obama, the country’s first black commander-in-chief, for whom Biden was his vice president.
“I think it raises the profile of Morehouse again,” Richmond said of President Biden’s upcoming visit.
While some critics dismissed the president’s Morehouse speech as a campaign stoppage intended to shore up Black voters in the battleground, Biden officials rejected that suggestion. Instead, they argue that the president has a real relationship with the campus and understands its legacy.
“He considers Dr. King his personal hero … and his bust is only on display with a few other people in the Oval Office,” said Benjamin, who also noted that “several” Morehouse graduates work in the White House executive office, in the one in the West Wing. He added: “He considers the Morehouse connection to be genuine.”
Richmond, who remembers talking about Morehouse with Biden during his 2020 campaign, said the Biden-Harris administration “respects” Morehouse and the larger Atlanta University Center, which incorporates Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University and Morris Brown. Richmond said that’s why the president delivered one among “his most important civil rights and voting rights speeches” on campus in 2022, and why Vice President Kamala Harris last yr invited Morehouse to her “Fighting for Our Freedoms” campus tour.
A Biden campaign official said the president saw the inaugural address as a chance to remind 2024 graduates of “all the things he accomplished specifically for the Black community” because “(they) were involved” in the last presidential election.
“It’s more about making sure they understand the impact that they have had, that they will have and that we need,” Richmond noted, “and not necessarily in a political context, but in a community context, a national context.”
Benjamin said President Biden’s upcoming address to a whole lot of Black male graduates will give attention to students and their families.
“When the president speaks, it will be a memory for a lifetime,” he said. “I have the impression that he will talk about what unites us rather than what divides us.”
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Politics and Current
Susan Rice calls Pete HegeSeth “stupid as rock” in an interview with the podcast
Susan Rice, a former national security advisor during the administration of President Barack Obama, was open, discussing what, in response to the Secretary of Defense Pete HegeSeth, as rumors, they spin about his future in Trump’s administration.
According to , During a conversation Thanks to the host “No Lie with BTC” Brian Taylor Cohen, Rice didn’t draw any blows when he described HegeSetha in unflattering categories, discussing some rainfall from the so -called signal controversy.
“Well, if you are a white Christian Cisgender Macho Maga, you can be as stupid as a rock and be considered a qualification to be the secretary of defense. We apparently learned this episode,” said Rice Cohen.
Rice continued, compiling the Trump’s concentration on combating diversity, equality and inclusion in how hegeSeth is just not eligible in her eyes.
“Dei was used as a suspension to suggest that anyone who is usually a woman is usually a color person, is usually a religious minority, might be disabled … he is usually a veteran of native origin, anyone who has used in any way, shapes or forms that we should always all treat and that we ought to be perceived on the basis of our substances, not discount, because we grow to be a lady or discount, That anyone should treat anyone.
According to Rice, he was a member of the Defense Policy Council until HegeSth allegedly removed the board members after a 45-day review On April 24, but time suggests that HegeSeth actually removed these members after indignant of right -wing influential in social media.
In an interview with Fox News, “Tucker Carlson, a dismissed adviser of HegeSeth, Dan Caldwell, mentioned that the management was currently involved in people who, according to Caldwell, were” extremely hostile “in the order of Donald Trump.
Caldwell called Rice specifically as a source of leaks in the HegeSetha Defense Department, for being blamed himself.
“She (Rice) and a group of other people who are extremely hostile to the president, and his worldview remain in the Defense Policy Council,” said Caldwell Carlson. “I would just say that if you want to look where the leaks come from, it would be a place where you can start.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell suggested in a press release that the changes reflect the values and direction of Trump’s administration.
“Secretary of HegeSeth appreciates the efforts of members on behalf of the Department and the United States of America, but it is necessary to change to support the new strategic direction and political priorities of the department and ensure effective use of departmental resources,” said Parnell.
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Politics and Current
“I’m not here to say that I told you that”: Kamala Harris encourages courage, sister at the top of women – essence
(Photo chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The former vice chairman of Kamala Harris remained largely from the public from losing in the November 2024 election at Donald Trump and his return to the White House in January. But this has modified on Thursday.
Speech in The leading women defined the peak At Dana Point, California, Harris passed the message of immunity, sister and the power of collective courage in uncertain times. “This is the moment when we all have to be in such rooms to remember that we have a strong sister,” she said. “Nobody can take our identity or existence from us – because we won’t let them.”
The peak, founded by the former CEO of Bet, Debra Lee, gathers influential black women to discuss leadership, politics and strengthening. In the film from her comments obtained by Huffpost,Harris emphasized the need for unity and motion.
“There were many things that we knew would happen,” Harris said, referring to the warnings she released during her campaign in 2024. After the sudden output of President Joe Biden from the race. “I’m not here to say that I told you that,” she added when the audience exploded with applause and shouts.
“It’s a completely different time,” she said. “A lot has changed.”
She recognized the challenges of the moment, pointing to the withdrawal of key politicians and the growing climate of fear. But she also reminded the audience that courage is contagious, identical to the strength of her sister.
“We see how people are silent. We see how the organizations are silent. We see the surrender for clearly unconstitutional threats,” she said. “Fear is contagious … but courage is also contagious.”
Less than 100 days after the second term, Trump dismantled the programs of diversity, justice and inclusion, approved mass layoffs of federal employees and imposed wide global tariffs that caused confusion of markets.
Despite the political realities, Harris explained that black women – who’ve at all times been at the forefront – are still growing.
“There is great power in this room. And yes, the world is watching,” she said. “But more importantly, people count on us – being nice, be fierce and be together.”
Almost a 12 months after his controversial and turbulent visit to the University of Memphis Kyle Rittenhouse, he’s preparing for the next event in the campus next month.
According to information about events at the university websiteThe 22-year-old activist for the rights of weapons is to talk at the University of MEmphis on 26 February about “his experiences and the importance of our rights to the second amendment.”
He was invited by the conservative political organization Turning Point USA (TPUS), the same group that hosted his visit to College in March last 12 months to speak about the “second correction” and “lies (Black Lives Matter)”.
Last 12 months, the Speaking Event at U of M’s Center Theater was a part of the short, national College route, which contained additional performances at Western Kentucky University and Kent State University, where campus communities took large demonstrations to sentence events. TPUS chapters in these schools also sponsored these visits.
At the University of Memphis, dozens of scholars who opposed his event appeared that Heckle and questions about his political attitudes, which prompted him to go away the stage earlier. The viral movies also showed the moments when the protesters were led by members of Rittenhouse and Tpus, who accompanied him from the campus.
A number of months after the event, the Alliance of the Defense of Freedom (ADF) sent letter request To school, they claim that the campus officials “allowed the crowd” to shut the Rittenhouse’s visit, but still burdened the $ 1600 tpus for defense, which “stood idly”.
The group also opposed the university’s demands, as TPUS switched from the ticket program to the university’s ticket system, which, he claims, allowed students who planned to protest against the event for booking places.
Officials of the University of Memphis sent A press release of local information about one other Rittenhouse visit to the campus: “The speaker was invited by the registered student organization. This event is not sponsored by the University of Memphis.”
Although the common opposition to the previous Rittenhouse visit appeared last 12 months, at Z Z stated that they might not legally prohibit this event, citing the first amendment and the Act on freedom of speech in the Tennessee campus.
The news about his next visit already creates waves online. Proponents of Rittenhouse have fun this event, but the opponents are lower than satisfied.
“It’s just about mixing the pool”, one Facebook user commented.
“For some reason he was rejected from the stage. Take a clue, he is not desirable here,” added one other.
“If you don’t want to hear what he has to say – don’t go!” Someone else wrote.
Rittenhouse became widely known at the age of 17 after he fatally shot two men and hurt one other during the protest in 2020 against Jacob Blake’s police shooting in Kenosh, Wisconsin. During the trial, he claimed that the defense itself, and the jury later acquitted him for all offenses.
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