“Our policies toward the arrogant government of the United States will not be changed at all,” Khamenei said, reminding Iranians that “American policies are 180 degrees different from us.” Chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” were shouted during Khamenei’s speech. John Kerry admits he’s troubled by such remarks.
NBC White House reporter Peter Alexander questioned the decision, pointing out that in the past, Obama ordered the flags at half-staff following the shootings at Newtown Elementary High School, the Boston bombing, and the massacre at Ft. Hood.
Earnest explained that Sunday’s round of golf with a few Democratic members of Congress had “been in the works for quite some time” and wasn’t necessarily a diplomatic effort to build support for his nuclear deal with Iran. When asked if Obama would be playing more golf with members of Congress, Earnest declined to share any details of the president’s golfing schedule.
“There should be no special way for anybody to be able to get citizenship any different than any other foreigner,” he said during an interview on CNN’s New Day this morning. Christie suggested that Clinton was going out of her way to promise citizenship for illegal immigrants to win the support of more American Hispanics.
If people in the Social Security system are unable to manage their own affairs because of “marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease,” the Times reports, those people might find it difficult to purchase a firearm, if that information is reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
During the White House press briefing this afternoon, Earnest admitted that he had not seen the videos but had read news reports about the practice, citing Planned Parenthood’s statement that their policies were “entirely consistent” with the “strictest ethical guidelines.” Earnest referred further questions about the investigation to Planned Parenthood and “ethicists” who defined these standards, as he did not have “intimate knowledge” of their practices.
“That is not particularly unusual,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest admitted to reporters this afternoon. The exclusive roundtable fundraiser will be closed to the press, and will be hosted by George Logothetis, the Chairman and CEO of the Libra Group, and his wife Nitzia Logothetis.
When Jon Stewart announced his retirement earlier this year, he was praised by Obama’s senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer as a person who changed news for a new generation. “Jon Stewart conducted some of the toughest and most insightful interviews of the president,” Pfeiffer said.
“I was practically a dead man walking and President Obama gave me my life back,” Hernandez said in an interview with KFOR News. “I see him like a father now. Like any son, you want to make your father proud, and that’s what my aim is.”
“You know, I know sometimes folks get discouraged about Washington — I know I do — because the arguments between the parties are just so stark, and all the differences are exaggerated, and what attracts attention and gets on the news on TV is conflict and shouting and hollering,” Obama said. “And as a consequence, everybody kind of goes into their corners and nobody agrees to anything, and nothing gets done, and everybody gets cynical and everybody gets frustrated.”
“We take all shootings very seriously,” Obama said. “Obviously when you have an attack on a U.S. military facility then we have to make sure we have all the information necessary to make an assessment in terms of how this attack took place.”
Speaking to reporters after the event, Obama explained that even people like him could have ended up in prison. “That’s what strikes me, there but for the grace of God,” he said. “And that is something that we all have to think about.”
President Obama and Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro announced a partnership with local communities and private companies to make broadband internet cheaper for residents of low-income areas and public housing.
HBO’s Bill Maher blasted CBS White House reporter Major Garrett as a “huge a***ole” after he asked Obama a tough question at the White House during President Obama’s press conference yesterday.
“We think that this is a moment where Iran has a really important opportunity to make a humanitarian gesture and bring the Americans home,” a senior White House official explained to reporters during a conference call on Tuesday. He insisted that the U.S. government was doing “whatever we possibly can” to bring the detained and missing Americans home.
Some of the protesters explained to local media that they were there to demonstrate the true nature of the flag as a symbol of Southern heritage. “We’re not gonna stand down from our heritage. You know, this flag’s not racist. And I know a lot of people think it is, but it’s really not,” said a man who told local media he drove three hours from Texas to join the protest. “It’s just a southern thing, that’s it.”
But Obama clarified that he didn’t want Americans to spend all their time on the internet or on their phones, admitting that he was surprised that when young people met him, they just held their phones up to capture the moment.
“I think my key goal when I turn over the keys to the president — the next president, is that we are on track to defeat ISIL,” he said, expressing optimism that they would be “much more contained.” He admitted that the civil war in Syria was an “open sore” in the Middle East, but that it would require all local factions to solve the problem – including Iran.
His overall argument rested with the message the administration has been sending for months – that his deal would be the only way to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon – using the phrase “nuclear weapon” 28 times. He added that the international community would be able to catch any “funny business” if Iran tried to cheat the inspectors.
Christie compared Obama’s comments on the Iran nuclear deal to his failed promise that if you liked your doctor or your insurance plan, you could keep it. “That turned out to be a lie,” Christie said. Christie pointed out that Iran could have up to 24 days to clean up a site before inspectors were allowed to go in, according to the terms of the deal.
“The truth of the matter is that Iran will be and should be a regional power,” he said. “They are a big country and a sophisticated country in the region.” Obama encouraged Iran to stop threatening their neighbors in the region.
“It’s not necessary for them to be great to denigrate Israel or threaten Israel or engage in Holocaust denial or anti-Semitic activity,” he said, expressing hope that the Iranian people would influence their leaders to change their public stance on these issues.
“Russia was a help on this. I’ll be honest with you. I was not sure given the strong differences we are having with Russia right now around Ukraine, whether this would sustain itself. Putin and the Russian government compartmentalized on this in a way that surprised me,” Obama said in an interview with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.
“He should have walked away,” Christie said. “Iran joins the sad list of countries where America’s red lines have been crossed. The president is playing a dangerous game with our national security, and the deal as structured will lead to a nuclear Iran and, then, a nuclearized Middle East.” Christie also called on Congress to reject the deal in the interests of national security.
President Obama mistakenly said that “Iran” would have access to their nuclear program, when he meant to say “inspectors.”
Secretary of State John Kerry “began his service to this country more than four decades ago, when he put on our uniform and went off to war,” Obama stated, and was “making this country safer through his commitment of strong, principled, American diplomacy.”
