Inviting me to be here at the celebration. And toou to the board the graduates, congratulations. This is a great school. This is one of the Great Schools in ohio and in our nation. There is so many great programs here. I think about the business program, the Nursing Program that is awardwinning. The premed and science programs. I do think about the Ashbrook Center, because the asp workcenter is celebrating Ashbrook Center is celebrating its 34 years. I love coming on campus and getting to know the students and the help in the council that id get from folks, including from the Ashbrook Center. It is great to be here. With josh andtage zach. I am also proud to have with us here today angie young in who is on my staff. She got her start in politics here at Ashland University as the College Student body president. She did this a few years after our, but even today in office in washington dc, she makes me call her madam president. [laughter] senator portman you could be excellencyd may be. She did help to get this resolution passed to finally get republicans and democrats together on something. Ladys unanimous that the eagles deserve this resolution. Isnt that great . Congress finally got together on something. [applause] we are in their house so, congratulations to them. I am starting to drop the resolution for the baseball team. No pressure guys. Better keep it up. Here. To everybody the scholars, athletes, every graduate, congratulations it is great to be part of the state with you. You came here as students and you are leading as alumni. Im sure the Alumni Association will contact you soon with a letter of solicitation. To congratulate you and ask for your help. To whom much is given, how is that . Youays, i am going to give a graduation gift today and i will try to be brief. You have so many friends and family here. Lets your some applause for that. [applause] start byortman let me saying it is probably a bittersweet day for you. It is a good place to be. In your future there will not be a stake night every month. Had here food you have at Ashland University, do not expect it unless you are a great chef yourself. I know you will miss ramparts cheese barn. I will be there later this morning. I do not try to miss it when i drive down 71. Who would miss it here . They say ashlyn, ohio is the headquarters of nice people. Ashland ohio, people in are nice. It is the place of civility. That is what i like about this campus. Different points of views are able to be expressed. I like what joss set, you are seekers of views. All points of view should be considered your it we all have to do a better job. Understanding other peoples points of view. That is wanting our country needs right now. As you leave here, you will carry that with you, i hope. I know that you are also going to miss some other things here, maybe even tough either eagle. The futureabout rather than the past. This is called a commencement for a reason. This is a new beginning for you. You are launching the next chapter of your lives here. Did a good job talking about the folks who are here who have been part of your strength. Probably some folks here in the audience who believed in you when you do not believe in yourself. Probably some people here who have helped you in various ways. Maybe they helped you with your tuition. Maybe thats why they are celebrating because tuition payments are over. That would be understandable. Heres the point. The success that you celebrate today is not just about you, it is about everyone that has gotten you to this point, including your teachers, administrators and family. Your team aste well. Lets give them another round of applause. [no audio] [applause] i have talkedn to some of you this morning and im glad some of you will stay home. Most students are from ohio and im glad you will stay in ohio, we need you here. The cuss some of you will stay in ohio, i will give you a couple of reminders of some of the ohio values. Talking about a few famous ohio ioans who example if i those values. I been here a couple of days and the radio host said that young people are lazy these days. They do not have the work ethics. I do not see that. I see a lot of hard workers here. You would not be her graduating if you did not have that work ethic. It is something to be reminded of. I do the that is one of the issues in our society today. The notion that we are holding up the dignity of work and hard work. When you think about it, it is part of ohio. My kids it tired of me saying it, but one of my favorite sayings is, the harder i work, the luckier i get. Some that because i think people will tell you that getting ahead is somehow out of your control. That it is a matter of luck. Have the ability to be able to chart your own course, hard work is the ingredients to success over which you have the most control. Circumstances and conditions will change all the time. But one thing it will not change is the role you can play in your success. By the way, that is true in the classroom as it is in the boardroom. True on the shop floor as it is on the senate floor. Who exemplified that. How about the Wright Brothers . Ohios most famous brothers. They grew up in a house without electricity, without a telephone or running water. The got around on horse and buggy, neither had a high school diploma. They had that ohio work ethic with fulltime jobs running a bicycle shop at me to the time to pursue their passion. A lot of really smart people who have more advanced education had flight tried to conquer to build a flying machine. Leonardo da vinci was one. Those are the ones who succeeded. He did all of this by the time they were 40 years old. No pressure. It is an incredible achievement. Hard work pays off. There is no feeling in the world like earned success, meaning, working hard and a comp something. That is something you have already accomplished because you are here. The second ohio value i want to mention his determination. Lets face it, no matter where you are in life and where you go, you will have some challenges. There will be bumps in the road. Given that there will be bumps in the row, you will be challenged to respond to that one way or the other, giving up is easy. Itetimes it makes difficulties go way. Lets talk about thomas edison. He grew up nearly death death. He left school at 14 and started selling newspapers. He wanted to be an inventor. When he was 22 he made a vote counting machine that he tried to sell to the u. S. Congress. They were behind the times and it took them until 1974 to get the machine. He failed there. He was rejected, but persistent. He didnt give up. By the time he was 31 the nearly deaf kid that nearly failed in school invented the phonograph. After that he went on to work on everything else, including incandescent light bulbs. He and his staff conducted 2000 experiments on the lightbulb to find the best materials. They experimented seven days a week for five months when it end stopped by to say im sorry you have gotten any results. His response was, i have gotten plenty of results. I now know several thousand things that dont work. Persistence, he kept at it and became the most famous inventor of all times. 278 with that kind of attitude, there are not setbacks, just learning experiences. When i first ran for Political Office a poll showed that i had 6 name identification. And, by the way, more than half thought i was taught fortune. That was not a good sign. A lot of people said, you are nice, but you wont make it. You should give up. But i persisted. And fortunately, i was able to succeed, but my passion was to represent my neighbors. Your passion will be something, dont give up and show persistence. Doesnt matter what the skeptics say. Follow that dream. Finally, along the lines of what dr. Campo said earlier, lets talk about service for a second. To whom much is given, much is required. We have many examples of that in ohio. We have eight president s from ohio. Nine Supreme Court justices, 24 astronauts, and more than 800,000 veterans. Some of them are here this morning. God bless you guys. [applause] thank you. Thank you for serving our country. The last famous ohioan i will mention is a Public Servant who i have gotten to know very well. He is best known as being the First American in space. His name is john glenn. He was a famous person in my view and a hero long before he went into space. When the japanese attacked pearl harbor, he was a college kid. So for the 19yearold you know here, imagine back then, pearl harbor happened, and john glenn decides hes going to serve. He put his dreams aside, left his high school sweetheart, annie, and he signed up to be a marine corps pilot. When the korean war broke out, he stepped up again. He flew 90 more combat missions in the korean war. For his distinguished bravery he was awarded. People dont realize this about john glenn. After his historic spaceflight, he decided to pursue a different type of service. And he ran for office. He revisited ohio four 24 years, longer than any senator in the state. About one year ago, i asked john glenn to calm any my staff. We had a staff retreat in columbus, ohio. He and his wonderful wife showed they peppered john glenn with questions. It was really interesting, because he told my team that happiness in life does not, from all the material things you think about. But in his view, happiness in life comes from one thing, and that is serving others. In some way. He spoke about serving the cause greater than yourself. Again, he was someone who never stopped finding ways to serve. And with his talents, he could have done anything, absolutely anything. But he chose a life of service. It does not have to be about politics are public service, but many of us will leave here energized ready to help and make sure your neighbors are revisited by you and you are serving them. So, in the next chapter of your life, i hope these incredible ohioans will inspire you. Work hard like the Wright Brothers. Keep fighting. Just like thomas edison. And then my john glenn, find excellence and fulfillment that works for you. They said again for letting me be here today. God bless you all. Go eagles. [applause] i am honored to be here today. I also know that some of your fellow students have raised questions about me being your commencement speaker. When i heard about these protests, i wanted to understand what was behind them. Conversation. Ood i am sure shes here somewhere. Me, theconcerns about nations banking system, and about capitalism itself. And some were legitimate, others i disagree with. Whether i agreed with her or not, i say good for her, i am proud of her for speaking up. In fact, it is completely appropriate to hold me accountable for those things i am responsible for. We all should be held accountable. But what does it mean to hold somebody accountable . How do you make yourself accountable . Today i will talk about what it takes to be accountable in the hope that it might be some value to you in the years to come. I want to point out that sharing my views with you, i do not mean to imply that i did it all right. I did not. Many of the lessons i learned, either from making mistakes. It takes courage to be accountable. Throughout my life, throughout this crisis of the past few years, i have seen many people embarrass themselves by failing likeand up and acting lemons by simply going along with the pack. I also saw idea people under enormous pressure who always did the right thing. Graduates, you will soon leave this wonderful immunity and venture into a new world and get ready for new jobs, new opportunities, and spirit along the way, you will face a lot of pressure. Pressure to go along to get along. Its a total line to look the other way when you see things are right. Pressure to do things simply because everybody else is doing that. Never give in to that pressure. Have the fortitude to do the right thing, not the easy thing. Dont be a lapdog. Have the courage to speak the truth even when it is unpopular. Have the courage to put yourself on the line to strive for something meaningful and even to risk would be an embarrassing failure. Sunday on q and a. Its a fine mess. Author and journalist tr reid takes a look at tax systems around the world. I went to the world bank around the world and asked, what is a good tax code . They said go to new zealand. Here is why. New zealand followed the fundamental civil of good taxation. They reduced it to the following letters, bblr. Tax code to have a like ours. Hundreds of exemptions and deductions and therefore every high rates. They got rid of all of them. They said, your salary, that income. If your employer placed insurance, that income. Thats with 20 a month. Then no deductions. You want to give to charity, thats great, we are all for but you are not getting a tax break. If you do that, you can set the rates very low. Sunday night on a clock eastern, on cspans q a. Sunday night on afterwards. Journalist Stuart Taylor examines Campus Sexual Assault aussies in his book, the campus rape frenzy, an attack on due process. By thelor is interviewed editor in chief of the national log journal and illegal times. Share for the viewers what your general thesis is, that you are looking at here. What are we going to be looking at when we open the pages. . The gist of it is that there is going to be a huge there is a coulter of campus rape. This is out of control, that its increasing, its worth on campus than offcampus. And that it requires completely demolishing dual process and the assumption of innocence, 99 of whom are male. That is not an accident. This comes from extreme feminists, malehating extreme feminists in some cases, but it is also pushed ahead by the obama investors in. Watch afterwards sunday night at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on brooke tv. President trump is in saudi arabia this weekend with mrs. Trump and senior white house officials, among them secretary of state rex tillerson. He held a joint News Conference with his saudi carpark to discuss bilateral relations. Talked about the recent president ial election in iran. This is 30 minutes. Good evening, everyone. Ready