Obama Calls for End to Bigotry, in Implicit Rebuke of Donald Trump

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday called for Americans to reject “bigotry in all its forms” and keep pressing for equality “no matter what ugliness might bubble up,” appearing to use the 150^th anniversary of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery to challenge the incendiary anti-Muslim politics espoused by Donald J. Trump.

 

At a ceremony at the Capitol attended by congressional leaders and civil rights activists, Mr. Obama sought to place the end of slavery in the broader context of the nation’s troubled history, saying the issue “was never simply about civil rights; it was about the meaning of America, the kind of country we wanted to be.”

 

But he also made subtle reference to the roiling political debate that is consuming the 2016 presidential race, implicitly rebuking Mr. Trump, the Republican front-runner in the polls, who has proposed temporarily barring Muslims from entering the United States.

 

 “Our freedom is bound up with the freedom of others, regardless of what they look like, or where they come from, or what their last name is or what faith they practice,” Mr. Obama said in the Capitol Visitor Center’s Emancipation Hall, filled with statues and busts of human rights leaders including Sojourner Truth.

 

His voice rose considerably as he mentioned “faith,” and many attendees, including Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House minority leader, gave him a standing ovation at the reference. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, however, remained seated, along with Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader.

 

“We betray the efforts of the past if we fail to push back against bigotry in all its forms,” Mr. Obama said. “We betray our most noble past as well if we were to deny the possibility of movement, the possibility of progress — if we were to let cynicism consume us and fear overwhelm us, if we lost hope.”

 

The president did not mention Mr. Trump in his remarks. The White House said Mr. Obama had not intended to speak directly to Mr. Trump in his speech, nor had any language been “newly inserted” to respond to one individual.

 

 

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Republican Opponents Of The Iran Deal Are The Same People That Still Advocate Invading Iraq Was A Good Thing. Meanwhile, General Colin Powell Fully Supports The Iran Agreement

Republican Colin Powell, former National Security Adviser, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former Secretary of State support the Iran Deal.  He revealed his support in fairly laudatory terms on Meet the Press.

 

Here’s the summary:

 

It’s a pretty good deal… I know there are objections to it, but here’s why I think it’s a good deal,” the former Secretary of State said. He continued, “One of the great concerns that the opposition has that we are leaving open a ‘lane’ for the Iranians to go back to creating a nuclear weapon in 10-15 years are forgetting the reality that they have been on a superhighway for the last ten years to create a nuclear weapon or nuclear weapons program with no speed limit.”

 

And while Dick Cheney Tried to ignore the reality that under the Bush Administration Iran went from 0 Centrifuges to 5,000, Colin Powell was not ignoring reality.

 

 “In the last ten years they’ve gone from 136 centrifuges up to something like 19,000 centrifuges.” That is something Republicans never talk about. Powell pointed out, “This agreement will take them down to 5,000 cent all of this will be under IAEA supervision and I think this is a good outcome.”

 

“They had stockpiled something in the neighborhood of 12,000 kilograms of uranium. This deal will bring it down to 300 kilograms,” Powell said. “It’s a remarkable reduction. I’m amazed that they would do this but they have done it.” [Daily Kos]

 

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