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Vice President Kamala Harris felt the time had come Saturday to share some of her hard-won “personal experience” as she told students “follow your moral compass” during her commencement speech at Tennessee State University, before observing “I have been many firsts in my lifetime” and hoped they would be too. Harris said the world they were graduating into “is unsettled” and marked both by the bloody conflict in Ukraine and the tail end of the coronavirus epidemic as nearly 600 graduates trod the stage at Hale Stadium.

(CNN) – Vice President Joe Biden encouraged high school graduates to dream big and avoid cynicism, recounting in a commencement speech Monday his memory of the president's inauguration day as an example of progress. Speaking to graduates of Cypress Bay High School in Weston, Florida - a key swing state this November - Biden threaded his speech with standard graduation language and strongly urged students not to settle for the status quo. – Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker "Don't give in to the cynicism, the pettiness and the negativity that so often pervades our public discourse. Believe in yourself,...

At least twelve rockets launched into Israel this morning; Beersheba school hit by Grad; three fired at Ashkelon, one at Beersheba are intercepted; southern Israel hit by nearly 100 Gazan rockets over the weekend. Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip that killed one man over the weekend continued Sunday morning as at least six Grad rockets were fired at Beersheba, one of which hit an empty school building. At least one other of the Grads was intercepted by the Iron Dome rocket defense system. Earlier Sunday morning, four mortar shells landed in the Eshkol Regional Council area and six Kassam...

College grads become 'boomerangs,' return home after graduationBy Justin Quesinberry Published: May 13, 2011 RALEIGH, N.C. - After college graduation, some students will begin their jobs, others will pursue another degree, but a growing number will head back where they started – home. According to a poll by Twentysomething, Inc., 85 percent of college graduates will move home. That’s up from 67 percent in 2006. Brian Cutchin, a North Carolina State University senior set to graduate Saturday, is one of those so-called “boomerangs.” “I didn't think it would be this tough, I thought getting a degree from NC State would...

President Obama, in a downbeat and at times pessimistic speech on the economy, acknowledged a "sense that the American dream might slowly be slipping away." "The anxiety that's out there today isn't new," Obama said at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Read more at the Washington Examiner:

Pelosi Tells Mills College Grads To 'Be Ready' John King May 15, 2010 The 500-plus students who received degrees and certificates at Mills College in Oakland on Saturday were sent into the world by another graduate of a women's college: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In a commencement speech that steered clear of partisan politics, Pelosi emphasized the personal side of her ascent to power as the nation's first female speaker. "My message is: 'Be ready,' " the 1962 graduate of Trinity College in Washington, D.C., told the students and their families and friends gathered on Toyon Meadow in the heart...

Israel's air force fired around 20 missiles at targets in Gaza City on Saturday, causing heavy damage, a Reuters witness said. The IDF has confirmed the report. (Hanan Greenberg and Reuters)

(IsraelNN.com) The cabinet has voted to accept a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza. Two ministers voted against the proposal and one abstained from voting.

"HAMAS AND THEIR SYSTEMATIC VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAWS (NOT TO MENTION BASIC HUMAN DECENCY)" "Video follows"

"IT'S NOT SO MUCH THAT THE HAMAS OFFICER WAS KILLED... ...it's that he was killed operating a mortar that his subordinates were not firing, because they refused to come out of hiding."

SNIPPET: "The fundamental truth is that Hamas' road to Iran runs through the international Muslim Brotherhood, and has for two decades. What is often missing in the discussion of the Muslim Brotherhood is that Hamas, according to its own founding charter, is an integral and armed part of the Ikwhan, not separate from it."

"THE BRIEF LIFE AND EXQUISITE MARTYRDOM OF A HAMAS MORTAR CREW" Snippet: "Via Hamas' al-Aqsa TV station, said to be filmed in Jabaliya on 06 January 2008. At about 1'15" the crew is hit by an apparent Israeli counter-strike."

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Ttragedy_school_Jebaliya_6-Jan-2009.htm Behind the Headlines: The tragedy at the school in Jebaliya 6 Jan 2009 An initial inquiry by forces on operating in the area of the incident indicates that a number of mortar shells were fired at IDF forces from within the Jebaliya school. In response to the incoming enemy fire, the forces returned mortar fire to the source. Preliminary Background Briefing Today, a reported 30 Palestinians were killed in a heartrending tragedy at a school in Jebaliya. Initial investigations indicate that Hamas terrorists fired mortar bombs from the area of the school...

(IsraelNN.com) Head of Military Intelligence General Amos Yadlin warned Monday that Hizbullah may open up another front in the ongoing war. Yadlin warned that Hizbullah may fire Katushya rockets at Israeli cities in the coming days.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2007 – Nearly 100 U.S. Naval Academy graduates from the class of 1995 are dedicating their participation in the Oct. 28 Marine Corps Marathon to the memory of six fallen comrades. Left to right: Dr. Mike McClung and his wife, Dr. Re McClung, and Suzanne Kristensen, with her husband, retired Navy Rear Adm. Edward Kristensen, discuss their departed children, Marine Maj. Megan M. McClung and Navy Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen at the “Run to Honor” reception in Washington, D.C., Oct. 25, 2007. Photo by Gerry J. Gilmore   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. About...

'Helicopter parents' still hover even as grads pound pavement By Eleanor Yang Su STAFF WRITER July 5, 2007 Rowena Paz's parents did everything they could to help her land a good job after college. They edited her résumé, suggesting experience she should play up or cut out. Her mother called regularly to remind Paz, 21, to get enough sleep before interviews. Her father coached her with interview questions and drove her to three job interviews in Los Angeles, because “driving in Los Angeles is tension-filled.” It came naturally for Paz's parents, who for years shuttled her to music and karate...

7/3/2006 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- Last year Airman 1st Class Samantha Riddle spent Independence Day floating down a river and watching fireworks. The day meant nothing more than a chance to hang out with friends and to enjoy a day off from the daily grind of working in the medical field. Now, as a graduate of Air Force basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, one of the Air Force's newest members has a new respect for the holiday. "As a member of the military I have a greater appreciation of what this holiday means. In the future,...

Iraqi police officers conduct drill and ceremony during an Iraqi police graduation at the Imam Police Academy in Najaf, Iraq, May 18, 2006. U.S. Army photo Grads Join Iraqi Police Ranks, Support Blood Drive U.S. soldiers with the 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, were on hand to witness the graduation ceremony. By U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Alexander Callahan 2nd Brigade Combat Team 4th Infantry Divison FORWARD OPERATING BASE DUKE, Iraq, May 19, 2006 — The Imam Ali Police Academy in Najaf hosted a graduation ceremony May 18, inducting more than 280 new...

John and Ken just said the judge in the case said he was leaning toward issuing a restraining order against the high school exit exam for graduation in June 2006

The University of Arizona is putting a wrap on tortilla tossing at graduation.UA president Peter Lykins is urging students not to bring the discs to fling into the air at Saturday's ceremonies because it's a waste of food and culturally insensitve to some people.Patti Ota, the UA's vice president of executive operations and senior associate to the president, will personally try and talk students out of the tortillas at the door,using food bank boxes to play on their guilt.