Advice About

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Obama defends Kaepernick"s anthem protest

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama said at a CNN presidential town hall Wednesday that he respected Colin Kaepernick"s decision not to stand during the national anthem.

The San Francisco 49ers quarterback started the protest last month after he sat during the national anthem for a preseason game, saying he would not "show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color."

Since then, other professional athletes have also chosen not to stand for the national anthem, sparking a national debate.

A member of the audience at the town hall, which was moderated by CNN"s Jake Tapper, asked what the President thought about Kaepernick"s protest.

"Lately, some players in the NFL have been choosing to take a knee during the national anthem, a time which I believe should be reserved to respect our service members," the man said. "As commander in chief, how do you feel about those NFL players choosing this respected time to voice their opinions?"

Obama: Colin Kaepernick "exercising constitutional right"

Obama responded: "Well, as I"ve said before, I believe that us honoring our flag and our anthem is part of what binds us together as a nation. But I also always try to remind folks that part of what makes this country special is that we respect people"s rights to have a different opinion."

Obama added that he believes protesters should be aware that the reason they are able to share their opinions are because people "fight" for them to be able to do so.

"The test of our fidelity to our Constitution, to freedom of speech, to our Bill of Rights, is not when it"s easy, but when it"s hard," he said. "We fight sometimes so that people can do things that we disagree with ... As long as they"re doing it within the law, then we can voice our opinion objecting to it but it"s also their right."

The President also continued that it is important for "everybody to listen to each other."

"I want (the protesters) to listen to the pain that that may cause somebody who, for example, had a spouse or a child who was killed in combat and why it hurts them to see somebody not standing," Obama said. "But I also want people to think about the pain he may be expressing about somebody who"s lost a loved one that they think was unfairly shot."

Earlier this month, Obama made similar comments about the quarterback, saying he was "exercising his constitutional right" by not standing for the national anthem.

"I got to confess that I haven"t been thinking about football while I"ve been over here and I haven"t been follow this closely," Obama said September 5 during a news conference at the conclusion of the G20 summit in China. "But my understanding, at least, is that is he"s exercising his constitutional right to make a statement. I think there"s a long history of sports figures doing so."

Obama seeks to reassure tearful widow about treating PTSD

Washington (CNN)With tears in her eyes, holding her microphone with a shaky hand, Amanda Souza told President Barack Obama about her husband who committed suicide after not treating PTSD caused by his deployment.

"My question to you is how can we ensure that our military men and women understand that it"s OK to get the help that they need and that they"re not going to risk their careers, that they are not going to be labeled?" Souza asked during CNN"s presidential town hall Wednesday, moderated by Jake Tapper.

"How can we enforce and ensure that especially my son"s generation that"s -- that"s coming into the military as careers, that they understand that it"s OK to get the help that they need? How can we change the stereotype?" Souza asked, explaining that her son is an active-duty Marine, and she created a foundation in her husband"s honor to help other veterans, service men and women, and their families improve their lives -- but she says it"s not enough.

Obama thanked her for her efforts, adding: "I honor your husband"s service, and I thank your son for his service. And I thank you for your service because you"re serving along with them. And, you know, sometimes the weight of battle comes home."

The military needs to get rid of the stigma associated with mental health and his administration is increasing funding toward mental health services, Obama said.

"The first is I have instructed the Joint Chiefs and up and down the chain of command that they have a responsibility to de stigmatize mental health issues and issues of PTSD and help to explain to everybody in all of the units under their command that there"s nothing weak about asking for help," he said.

Exclusive: Obama says Congress made a "political vote" overriding his veto of Saudi lawsuit bill

Roughly 20 veterans commit suicide daily, according to a Veteran Affairs study released July 2016. The study also revealed that veterans accounted for 18% of all deaths from suicide in the US.

Obama compared treating mental health to treating a broken leg -- it needs to be healed.

"You"re going to go to a doctor to get that leg healed," he said. "If, as a consequence of the extraordinary stress and pain that you are witnessing, typically, in a battlefield, something inside you feels like it"s wounded, it"s just like a physical injury. You"ve got to go get help."

He said that his administration is working on increasing the funding for health services for veterans.

"Now, you also have to back it up with resources, so this brings me to my second point. We have increased the funding for mental health services since I"ve been president by about 75%," he said. "And part of what we"re trying to do is start early by embedding, in some cases, clinicians, people who can help, in the units in theater, not just when they get back home, so that when something happens, we"re able right away."

Obama: Why I won"t say "Islamic terrorism"

Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama has taken a lot of criticism from political opponents over his rhetoric when it comes to terrorism. But on Wednesday at a CNN presidential town hall, he was asked to defend why he refuses to say "Islamic" terrorism to a Gold Star mother.

"My son gave his life for acts of terrorism," audience member Tina Houchins told Obama at the town hall moderated by CNN"s Jake Tapper. "Do you still believe that the acts of terrorism are done for the self-proclaimed Islamic religious motive? And if you do, why do you still refuse to use the term ... Islamic terrorist?"

Obama called it a "sort of manufactured" issue.

"There is no doubt, and I"ve said repeatedly, where we see terrorist organizations like al Qaeda or ISIL -- They have perverted and distorted and tried to claim the mantle of Islam for an excuse for basically barbarism and death," he said.

"These are people who"ve killed children, killed Muslims, take sex slaves, there"s no religious rational that would justify in any way any of the things that they do," he said. "But what I have been careful about when I describe these issues is to make sure that we do not lump these murderers into the billion Muslims that exist around the world, including in this country, who are peaceful, who are responsible, who, in this country, are fellow troops and police officers and fire fighters and teachers and neighbors and friends."

Exclusive: Obama says Congress made a "political vote" overriding his veto of Saudi lawsuit bill

The President compared using the term to if a Christian were a murderer but claiming their religion in their actions.

"If you had an organization that was going around killing and blowing people up and said, "We"re on the vanguard of Christianity." As a Christian, I"m not going to let them claim my religion and say, "you"re killing for Christ." I would say, that"s ridiculous," Obama said.

"That"s not what my religion stands for. Call these folks what they are, which is killers and terrorists," he added.

At one point, Obama said that the danger of using the term is when "a president or people aspiring to become president get loose with this language."

Tapper interjected: "You were clearly talking about the Republican nominee Donald Trump just then --"

"No, I wasn"t," Obama said. "It"s not unique to the Republican nominee. Look, I"m trying to be careful, we"re on a military base, I don"t insert partisan politics into this. I think that there have been a number of public figures where you start hearing commentary that is dangerous. Because what it starts doing is it starts dividing us up as Americans."

After the Orlando shootings in June, Trump used the term "radical Islamic terrorism" to describe the motives. It became a topic of the election after he publicly criticized Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for not using the term.

The Iraqi housewife who "cooked the heads" of ISIS fighters

Shirqat, Iraq (CNN)"Shut up and stay still," the woman in black fatigues and a black headscarf snapped over her shoulder at the armed men behind her as she sat down for an interview.

Immediately they went quiet, each adjusting his weapon and standing up straight as if he"d been called to attention.

This is a woman who commands respect, I thought. She keeps a Beretta 9-millimeter pistol in a holster under her left arm. The area around the trigger was silver where the paint had worn off.

The woman in question, 39-year-old Wahida Mohamed -- better known as Um Hanadi -- leads a force of around 70 men in the area of Shirqat, a town 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Mosul, Iraq.

She and her men, part of a tribal militia, recently helped government forces drive ISIS out of the town.

In the man"s world that is rural Iraq, female fighters are a rarity.

"And so is this -- to cut off their heads," said the driver, pulling a long machete off the dashboard and brandishing it uncomfortably close to my face.

Trump peddles Google conspiracy theory

Waukesha, Wisconsin (CNN)Donald Trump on Wednesday touted a long-debunked conspiracy theory that the most popular internet search engine suppresses negative headlines about his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Trump didn"t cite a source to back up his claim, but the most recent report alleging this came from Sputnik News, a Russian state-owned news agency.

"Google search engine was suppressing the bad news about Hillary Clinton," Trump said, apparently referring to Google searches during the first presidential debate on Monday night.

Trump"s remarks Wednesday night came two weeks after Sputnik News, a Russian government-controlled news agency, published a report claiming that Google search results are biased in Clinton"s favor. Conservative news outlets, including Breitbart News, whose chairman became Trump"s campaign CEO last month, linked to the report.

Trump has been repeatedly criticized for being too praiseworthy of Russian President Vladimir Putin and for promoting foreign policies that would benefit Russian interests around the world. And several of his top advisers -- most notably his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort -- have extensive ties to Russian government officials and oligarchs.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment asking where Trump sourced his claim.

But the remark was not an off-the-cuff ad lib -- it was included in the prepared remarks Trump read from during his rally speech Wednesday night.

The conspiracy theory first popped up in a viral video dating back to June, in which the pop culture site SourceFed claimed Google actively altered search recommendations to benefit Clinton"s campaign, which search engine optimization experts quickly debunked.

Despite what you might have seen online, Google is not manipulating its search results to favor Hillary Clinton.

Google also rebuked the claim in a statement last June.

"Our autocomplete algorithm will not show a predicted query that is offensive or disparaging when displayed in conjunction with a person"s name," a Google spokeswoman said. "Google autocomplete does not favor any candidate or cause. Claims to the contrary simply misunderstand how autocomplete works."

With protests quiet, state of emergency ends in Charlotte

(CNN)Charlotte, site of protests after a police officer-involved shooting last week, and the state of North Carolina have lifted states of emergency for the city.

Gov. Pat McCrory thanked Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, the Highway Patrol and state"s National Guard for "working together to restore order over the past week."

The emergency declarations came on the second night of protests that turned violent in the wake of the fatal shooting of an African-American man by an African-American officer.

There was violence on the first two nights, including the deadly shooting of a protester named Justin Carr.

Subsequent protests were peaceful and National Guard troops were sent home Sunday, the same day a curfew was put to bed.

Protesters filled Monday"s City Council meeting, calling for the mayor and police chief to resign. There were no large-scale protests Tuesday.

Carson: Trump "learned a lot" from first debate

Washington (CNN)Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, who now serves as a surrogate for Donald Trump, said that the Republican nominee has "learned a lot" from his performance at the first presidential debate against Hillary Clinton on Monday.

"He has certainly heard loud and clear," Carson told CNN"s Erin Burnett on "OutFront." "Remember, this is his first one-on-one debate and I think there"s a learning curve for that. I think he will have learned a lot from this. I think he will see a bit different of a way of approaching it for the next debate ... It didn"t go as well as it could have."

Carson also weighed in about the controversy concerning former "Miss Universe" Alicia Machado, who has publicly denounced Trump for his harsh comments to her after she won the pageant in 1996 and then gained weight. She said he called her "Miss Housekeeping" and "Miss Piggy" and encouraged her to lose the weight.

The former neurosurgeon told Burnett that this controversy is part of being in a presidential campaign.

"I think that is the kind of thing that is going to continue to occur," he said. "That"s basically a bomb that"s thrown out there in order to distract. And Donald Trump"s winning card will be to be able to disregard that and refocus on the things that are important."