The president [Barack Obama] is not willing to send in apaches and spotters if the Iraqis say they don't want them and if it means that these Shia mobilization forces are going to be going after and trying to kill Americans.

But even race-neutral policies and recruitment efforts designed to achieve greater diversity are, in the end, not race neutral.

The Gulf states are happy for us to fight and die. That's good for everybody, but the Americans fighting and dying.

That bomb that took down that Russian airliner may have been the size of a soda can. And that bomb killed more people than all the Paris attackers combined. So this is still a grave threat.

In fact, the converse is true: At a time when the United States has been called on for a level of moral leadership, vision and inspiration not seen since World War II, we cannot afford to dissemble about crimes against humanity.

A tremendous number of people come to the country legally, but overstay their visas. And there has to be a far stronger mechanism for being able to track down people, have overstayed their visas, to have a responsibility for who they're coming to visit or stay with.

Notwithstanding these setbacks, the dream of a beautiful American orchestra goes on, and I share Dr. King's faith that each year we move inexorably closer to a magnificent opening night.