Obama Talks Terror at Navy Graduation

Speaking at Hampton U., president says education helps break down barriers

(NEWSER) - President Obama delivered the commencement address at a historically black college today for the first time since taking office. He called on the graduates of Hampton University in Virginia to "be role models for your brothers and sisters, to be mentors in your communities and, when the time comes, to pass that sense of an education’s value down to your children." More»

President delivers commencement speech a year after deadly tornado

(NEWSER) - A year after a screaming tornado ripped out the heart of Joplin, Mo. , as its new graduates headed home from commencement , President Obama last night saluted the town's resilience as Joplin High School feted a new crop of graduates. "The story of Joplin isn't just what happened that day," Obama told the graduating seniors, according to Politico . "It's the story of what happened the next day. And the day after that." Lauding the town's recovery, he said, "you’re the source of inspiration today." More»

Alexandra Petri weighs in on sometimes hard-to-hear truths

(NEWSER) - Wish you could ditch the inspirational commencement speech for something a bit more realistic? So does Alexandra Petri. But she wasn’t satisfied with Charles Wheelan’s recent list in the Wall Street Journal , “10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won’t Tell You,” because she kinda remembered hearing all of the observations it contained ... in commencement speeches. So, in the Washington Post , she offers up “the 10 things they really don’t tell you at graduation.”

• Get ready to be unemployed and living with mom and dad. She’s not trying to be cruel, just stating facts, she explains, and she has the statistics to prove it. Here's one: "29% of 25-to-34 year-olds live in what the poll-taker was kind enough to refer to as "multi-generational living arrangements" rather than "your old room with all the anime posters and Admiral Ackbar figures carelessly splayed on every surface."

And appears no closer to closure than it was 2 years ago

(NEWSER) - Today is a birthday, but probably not one you want to celebrate: Guantanamo Bay is turning 10, an anniversary that will be marked by protests here and abroad. Ten years ago, the first 20 detainees were flown to the detention facility in chains. Several of those 20 remain at Gitmo today, NPR notes. Of the 171 detainees still held at Guantanamo, just 36 will likely be given a military trial. Another 48 will, seemingly, be detained indefinitely; the US lacks a sufficient amount of evidence to try them, but insists they are too dangerous to release. More»

Administration ends 2-year military prosecution freeze

(NEWSER) - President Obama today reversed a two-year freeze on military prosecutions against Guantanamo Bay detainees, the AP reports. In an executive order, the president restarted the process of trying the high-risk detainees—the latest acknowledgment of the political difficulties of fulfilling his campaign promise to close the Cuban detention facility. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will also rescind his January 2009 ban on new prosecutions. More»