There’s Something Happening Here… There… Everywhere
Posted: February 21, 2011 Filed under: just because 90 Comments
One World, One Pain
Hello news junkies, so how’s your Presidents Day going? This post basically picks up where BB’s morning reads left off. Minkoff Minx also has a live blog on the protests going. I don’t know about you, but the world is spinning so fast right now, it’s hard to keep up, and I need all the help I can get. I’ve been perusing reads from around the blogosphere to fill in the gaps on what I missed last week and what’s been cooking this morning. I thought I’d share a bit of what I found (see below the youtube of Buffalo Springfield), in case it might save anyone else trying to catch up a little legwork.
Something Happening Everywhere: Midday Monday reads
Libya Live Updates (The Guardian), 5:12 pm, Evening summary:
- Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, “may have gone to Venezuela”, British foreign secretary William Hague has said (see 4.43pm).
- Two Libyan fighter jets and two civilian helicopters have landed in Malta (see 4.41pm).
- There are reports of gunfire in Tripoli and of the navy bombing parts of the capital (see 5.07pm).
- The Bahrain grand prix has been cancelled because of anti-government protests there (see 4.42pm).
- Five people are dead after riots in Morocco (See 4.20pm).
In Women’s rights news:
- From the Feminist Peace Network’s Lucinda Marshall (via RH Reality Check) — Women’s Human Rights in Egypt: Cautious Optimism and the Way Forward.
- Stupakistan is the nightmare that never ends. Kat linked to this horrifying development in the comments: Georgia Representative Wants To Investigate All Miscarriages.
US protests:
- Beata posted this in the comments — Indiana union workers rally at Statehouse to protest bills –and added a note that “The Indiana protesters inside the Statehouse are attempting to connect with their Wisconsin brothers and sisters via Skype”
Something Happening Here: Sky Dancing catchup
- As Minkoff Minx said in her Sunday reads, it ain’t easy being Wisconsin cheesy! Minx linked to some great stuff that I might have missed otherwise, most especially Dakinikat’s excellent (Feb 19th) series (18th) of posts about WI and public sector unions (17th) last week. Kat really decimates the talking points against public workers with laser-like precision, facts, and nifty charts.
- Quixote summed up the essence of the current fight over unions really well in a comment she left on my Saturday morning post: “You don’t have to be pro-labor to support unions. Anyone who cares about the right to assemble should be defending people’s rights!This isn’t about busting unions. It’s about busting basic rights.”
- If you didn’t catch Bostonboomer‘s read the other night about the “national security” secret of Dennis Montgomery and the eEtreppid software fiasco, be sure to check it out. It’s a horribly depressing state of affairs, but the way BB covered it, at least you’ll laugh while crying.
- Also, if you missed Minx’s late night music & solidarity thread on Friday, it was a real uplifting treat.
Something Happening There: Stuff from other blogs
- Joyce Arnold‘s Saturday afternoon guest post at Taylor Marsh’s provided a very informative, though depressing, overview on the ENDA process — Queer Talk: Conversations that never seem to ENDA.
- And, in her always wonderful Sunday roundup, Stacyx (aka SecretaryClintonBlog) linked to Sabrina Tavernise’s “Reporting While Female,” in which Tavernise reflects on her own experiences as a foreign war correspondent in light of the news about Lara Logan. (In the comments at Sky Dancing this morning, Bostonboomer also linked to a very moving and powerful open letter to Lara Logan from another woman journalist.)
- Hillary news: 1) Stacy linked two very interesting reads on Hillary’s tenure as SOS last week — one from Harper’s Bazaar and another from CNN. 2) Ramsgate has a diary up at TM about the unsettling story of the Ray McGovern arrest at Hillary’s free speech address last week, of all places.
- Taylor Marsh has this interesting read up right now: American Oligarchy, in which she asks, “Reagan and Clinton both bit the tax hike bullet, but will Obama?” My wild guess on that is No.
- Over at The Widdershins (via chatblu’s Saturday morning post), Cream City came up with a great little quip: “Walker to Wisconsin: Let them eat cheese.” Cream City also shared some helpful WI media links in the comments at TW: wisopinion.com (aggregates left/right blogs, editorials, etc), wispolitics.com (news), jsonline.com (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, conservative), madison.com (combined Madison papers, you can guess the political leaning of those) Pat Johnson wrote a very beautiful post this morning at TW as well, about the woman in that Great Depression photo. You know the one. Oh, and yesterday chatblu put up a wonderful thread ahead of Presidents Day and got a great chat and youtube exchange of movies going — Lazy Sunday: Political Pictures.
- Have you seen this sticky lambert has up at corrente yet? Send WI protesters a solidarity pizza!
- Peter Daou: Witnessing history ... “Every age has its historic events and moments, but it’s hard to deny that we’re living through an epic time in history. Here are just a handful of the things we’ve seen in the past few years: The amputation of Manhattan’s skyline… One of the most destructive tsunamis ever recorded (Indian Ocean)… One of the deadliest earthquakes ever recorded (Haiti), One of the worst environmental disasters ever (Gulf spill)… The emergence – and denial – of the biggest threat to human life (climate change)… The most successful U.S. presidential campaign ever by a woman… The election of the first U.S. black president… And now, the 2011 Middle East and North Africa uprisings…”
- Last but not least. Provocative read from the Black Agenda Report/Bruce A Dixon: The New Black Politics: All We Want Is A Black Royal Family, Not Jobs, Peace, or Justice. Snippet: “When black Americans used to identify with the world’s oppressed and down-trodden, they were at least identifying with people like themselves. Now we are more likely to see ourselves in Michelle Obama, who takes six or eight vacations a year in some of the world’s most expensive resorts, than in a poor greiving Palestinian or Congolese mother.”
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
peggysue22
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Wow, Wonk you did a great job! All these fantastic links. Now to go check them all out!
Wow, what a feast for a news junkie. Right now, all I can think about is the people in Libya who are being shot at. I’ll explore the links a little at a time.
Thank you for this post, Wonk!
I posted some updates on the live thread, the EU has issued a statement about the protesters being shot at with the planes…nothing from W.H.
anything from the State dept?
Libya — Guardian update
5.19pm: Reuters has filed a story corroborating our report on the Libyan armed forces attacking parts of Tripoli (see 5.07pm). The news agency reported that military aircraft attacked crowds of anti-government protesters in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday, according to al-Jazeera:
http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE71K26320110221
According to Al Jazeera, 9 Libyan government ministers have resigned in protest.
Got this second hand from reliable source (Joyce Arnold):
One guy who resigned was on Al Jazeera.
ACT BLUE: Support the Wisconsin 14
https://secure.actblue.com/page/thewisconsin14
http://www.actblue.com/page/solidaritywi
http://www.actblue.com/page/thewisconsin14/syndicate
I’m following wisconsin probably as closely as BB is following Libya. So thank you for the link. First-Draft.com has had some decent coverage of the protests as well.
Keep us posted on Wisconsin if you have time, Cwaltz. I’m extremely interested.
The latest over at Firedoglake is that Walker put a no bid contract in the 144 page piece of crap.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/02/21/in-budget-bill-wisconsin-gov-walker-pushing-for-no-bid-sales-of-state-owned-power-plants/
Hmmmmmmm I wonder who that would benefit?
Wow, that’s shameless!
I thought we got rid of no contract bids in Iraq, guess we didn’t.
That no bid contract is highly illegal in California. The brothers are going buy the
power, control the price, and get eveyone dependent on them, and the state is going to allow them to get rid of the little agencies for more power.
Does it look like anyone can stop it? The ony way is to get it so messed up in court, that it hurts Wisc. budget for years to come.
Here’s something from Twitter:
LisaDCNN Lisa Desjardins
LIBYA AND EGYPT: The Egyptian military announced it is setting up camps and field hospitals near the Libyan border for refugees.
Wish you wouldn’t link to TM’s piece on Ray McGovern. They did not provide all the facts and it’s being used by the CDS crowd to bash Hillary. By the way, the security detail that dragged him out of the auditorium belonged to the university, not the government.
It’s not TM’s piece, it’s by Ramsgate. Ramsgate is not a Hillary basher. I do think it is concerning what happened.
Sorry for not being clear–when I said it was being used by the CDS crowd for bashing, I was referring to the commenters, not Ramsgate. The part about leaving our who the security detail worked for–that was Ramsgate.
Ah gotcha Sophie. I know all those commenters on the thread–they’re not Hillary haters, quite a few of them have been staunch Hillary supporters. I think people are just troubled by this. The appearance of it isn’t good, and putting the best construction on this, it’s not a good PR moment for her. I’m sure over on Daily kos and other Hillary hating haunts, they’re doubtless using this to just knee-jerk bash her. I don’t think Hill should be bashed–but I would like to get more clarity on this.
Taylor made a comment downthread in Ramsgate’s post that she believes Hillary’s always been rooted in realpolitik. Maybe, but I still think Hillary is a pragmatist who’s got a series of principles she’s tied her pragmatism to. Lately though, her positions on Egypt and the Mideast, supporting Suleiman, etc.–I do get the tough position she’s in, but I still don’t agree with too much of the Administration’s foreign policy that she’s carrying out right now.
She linked to the Raw Story piece. They didn’t specify that the security detail belonged to the university rather than the gov’t, but I’m not sure that that’s what was upsetting here. It just looks bad that while she’s literally saying, “then the gov’t pulled the plug, cell phone service was blocked, satellite signals were jammed, internet access was blocked for nearly the entire country, the gov’t did not want the people to communicate with each other…” McGovern is shouting “so this is America? This is America… who are you?” while he’s being dragged away and she just doesn’t even stop or skip a beat or anything, she keeps going:
Sorry…stepped out to run an errand. I agree that it doesn’t look good and I would like to know more facts about the circumstances before all the speculation becomes the story. Is this Hillary suppressing free speech or is this Hillary using what she’s learned over the years: to just keep talking over the hecklers? I don’t know but am not liking people just assuming the worst. I’ve seen that movie before.
AlterNet took the opportunity to contrast how Rummy dealt with “the same” situation. It was the same guy, but in Rummy’s case, McGovern was speaking on his turn during the designated Q&A period.
The security people worked for Georgetown University, I think. Larry Johnson said that Hillary didn’t have any control over them.
I still think she should have stopped and said something. It was a little bit like what happened when John Kerry was giving that speech in FLA and the guy was tased for asking him a question. It wasn’t Kerry’s decision, but he didn’t protest much.
Yes, exactly. I think if she would have stopped and acknowledged it somehow, I’d not feel as unsettled about it. I know she wasn’t responsible for him being dragged away, but if it were Obama instead of Hillary I don’t think the explanation that it was university security would reassure me much.
Kerry would never do that because he is so awesome and a real liberal. He would never do what Hillary is doing,because he is so special. Just ask Taylor “Kerry does no wrong and should be SOS,but Hillary stole it from him” Marsh.
Hillary is a hawk and has always been one. Hillary does not need excuses,she did what she did and has to live with it and she knows this.
Unlike Marsh,Hillary does have morals. In 2008,she loved Hillary and was all for her but when Hillary was screwed over she jumped ship to Obama and threw Hillary supporters out with the trash. When Marsh goes to visit,talk with,and help little girls who have been sold into sex slavery or goes to Africa to talk with woman and little girls who cannot leave their homes alone because they will be raped, or meets with the women on every trips she takes and does townhalls with them(answering all their questions,unlike other people).
Hillary supported Sulieman and Powers supported the military to take over. But guess what,there is not that much difference between them.
I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt because I didn’t see her brush imaginary lint off her shoulder or scratch her nose with her middle finger.
Hi jill. Kerry wouldn’t make a good SOS, though it does look like he’s angling for Hill’s seat when she retires.
jill, you said: “Hillary is a hawk and has always been one. Hillary does not need excuses,she did what she did and has to live with it and she knows this.”
If you’re talking about what Ray McGovern is saying about why he was protesting Hillary, I think he’s wrong in pinning all of the war machine on her and giving Obama a pass. I’m still not real comfortable with his being hauled away like that and Hillary just reading her speech. She’s not suppressing his speech, but the footage has the appearance of her tacitly condoning someone else doing it. It just wasn’t one of her finest moments. Shrug.
Hillary has so many strengths and I can’t think of any living US pol I have ever admired more than her. But, supporting Suleiman was something that showed one of her weaknesses, not one her strengths IMHO. It doesn’t matter if there’s not daylight between her and Powers. The only reason I ever brought up the Powers/Clinton angle the other week was bc it pains me to have to be on the side of Powers and have to watch Hillary take positions I can’t defend. I don’t give an iota about Powers. She was wrong that Hillary is a monster–we know she’s not one. That’s precisely why this makes it so difficult. At Georgetown in 2009, Hillary spoke of a human rights agenda characterized by “principled pragmatism” but I don’t see where the principle or even the pragamatism is in a lot of the Obama foreign policy she’s carrying out right now. It’s not just her, it’s all of them–Obama, Biden. They’re more obsessed with Iran than anything else.
Hillary being a hawk has nothing to to do with what happened with McGovern,which was wrong.
If Hillary gets blamed for the wars right or wrong,she will accept it and deal with it. Obama will never get blamed,because he is Obama and the media and “liberals” will make sure he does not get blamed. He turns into a 5 year old when people say bad things about him.
Read that CNN article where it shows what she has done and how she shows her leadership. Every SOS has their special project,when Hillary said her project was woman and girls the entire DC media laughed in her face and said pick something else. Tina Brown called her fat and everybody laughed. If Hillary gives a speech about anything other than the wars or Iran no one cares.
I got upset because I read Marsh’s comments and basically saying Hillary does not feel and has no morals. That pisses me off,has Marsh covered anything Hillary has done with woman and children.
Hillary screwed up with Egypt and has to take the blame. So did Powers who wanted the military in charge and as we have seen they are not that better. Hillary does townhalls with young people and they ask her tough questions that put our media to shame and guess what she answers them.
Jill @7:51, if you see my comment at 7:57 below, we’re saying a lot of the same stuff about Hill’s work as SOS. It’s why I linked to the Harper/CNN stuff AND the McGovern story. I wanted to show both sides of the Hillary story right now, not just one or the other.
Hillary finally released a statement.
Geez, at last. But damn, nothing from The O man himself. Not surprising.
It’s just a press release from Hillary–she didn’t make an appearance. Obama must be busy or else dithering.
I still can’t find it on-line.
I can’t find it either…Dangit.
Hillary’s statement is here:
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/02/156836.htm
Situation in Libya
Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
February 21, 2011
The world is watching the situation in Libya with alarm. We join the international community in strongly condemning the violence in Libya. Our thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives have been lost, and with their loved ones. The government of Libya has a responsibility to respect the universal rights of the people, including the right to free expression and assembly. Now is the time to stop this unacceptable bloodshed. We are working urgently with friends and partners around the world to convey this message to the Libyan government.
It’s not a very strong statement. I wonder if Obama is even dealing with this.
Hillary’s statement should have been stronger. Hillary slept through this 3 a.m. phonecall and failing the test.
I agree with Foxnews that we should shoot down Libya’s helicopters.
Hillary’s statement is vague–neither here nor there.
Has the WH/Obama still not said anything?
@jillforhill
I don’t think that Hillary’s statement has been written without Obama’s approval.
She is representing His administration.
This is not her 3am phone call, this is clearly Obama’s 3am phone call…and really he has had a bunch lately! (And failed at them I might add.) But saying that we should blow their helicopters out of the sky is taking it a bit far. IMHO
Hillary is SOS and this is her responsability.
Then how do we stop what is going on in Libya right now. The statements from anyone are not stopping anything. If we want the violence to stop,then that is the only way to do it.
@bostonboomer and Wonk:
I agree, not a strong statement at all. But honestly she seems very weak when she gives a first statement like this…sounds like something Obama would say. When she does any interviews and is more on her own terms, she always conveys a stronger attitude.
Hillary can’t go out on her own and speak her own mind. She has to represent the administration policy. Unfortunately Obama is an indecisive wimp.
That is why I think she is a bit more stronger off the cuff in interviews. (Like what she did during that Sunday she went on all those shows.) She still represents Obama the wimp, but it just seems she will let more of herself through in the comments she makes. (My migraine is peaking, so I hope I am making sense!)
@ jillforhill
Hillary represents the Obama Administration. So she is speaking for him.
As far as US violence to stop the Libyan violence….that kind of action will make things worse. I think those calls for violence are wrong. This is not the time for that. That sounds like some sort of response to the fact that Libya is a major source of Oil…aka money…which is why you did not hear the far right pushing US violence in response to the Egyptian/Tunisian/Yemen revolts. But that is my own opinion.
How do we stop the genocide that is going on in Libya right now?
The killers in Libya don’t care about our statements. Shooting down their helicopters sends a message that what they are doing is not going to be accepted and they will be punished. The Libya military is not like the Egypt military,which is not that much better.
Jill are you being sarcastic here to make some kind of a point? Or are you serious? It’s not like you to agree with Fox News on much of anything.
Wonk
I am serious. The Libya killers are firing thier guns where the people are protesting and firing on them with air strikes. They are shooting them from helicopters. There is a genocide going on in Libya. Hundreds have people have died and will die if the Libya military is not stopped. Pro-Ghaddifi people have said this will be a bloodbath.
Is there a better solution to stop this,because I do not think a statement will.
Jill, thanks for clarifying. I see what you’re saying now. Sorry, I was thrown for a loop because you usually defend Hill. I thought you were mocking us at first for turning on Hillary or something.
The situation in Libya is distressing in the extreme. And, this is different than Egypt where we could threaten to stop aid.
BB’s got a new post up about Obama saying he’s “concerned.” Well, with phoned in statements like that, no, statements aren’t going to do anything at all. But the other extreme of Fox News and shooting down the helicopters doesn’t sound sober enough either. I think the UN needs to intervene at this point.
No problem. We thought Mubarak was bad,but this is so much worse. It is gettng worse as time goes on.
I love and respect Hillary. I was not mocking anyone here, I apologize if it seemed that. But as you have written,we can disagree with her and still have respect for her.
My Lord I didn’t even know what was going on with Libya. I’ve been trying to keep up with the WI situation.
I put in some info if people want to send pizza to the demonstrators and also Cream City had some info about sending a donation to help out with water and beverages for them.
Check this out from Phoenix Woman at FDL:
The last laugh will be on us though when the GOP defunds them and no defends them because they want to play biased games.
NPR gets less than 1% of its funds from the government. They can get plenty from corporations now that they have gone over to the right.
PBS is now in the process of trying to break the employee unions–at least they are here. They have hired a managers specifically to break the union at WGBH.
Defunding NPR
….I frankly can’t wait for that part of the “Shared Sacrifice” The Musical .
They give tools a bad name
As I said, NPR doesn’t need public money anymore. They’re fully corporatized. They even have ads now.
PBS is now in the process of trying to break the employee unions–at least they are here. They have hired a managers specifically to break the union at WGBH.
Those fuckers!
A blogger got screenshots of members of the Bahrain royal family joking on twitter while protesters are being killed by government. Pretty creepy. Shades of Marie Anoinette.
http://thegrumpyowl.com/2011/02/18/bahrain-antoinette-let-them-eat-lol/
RT from Oxford Girl
Egyptocracy
by oxfordgirl
Clinton: ‘The world is watching the situation in #Libya with alarm’. Apparently, the alarm is still on snooze. #Feb17 #USA #Clinton
Ha, Oxfordgirl nailed it. That’s very accurate.
Egyptocracy is actually the person who wrote it.
Oh I see it now. thanks!
Oxfordgirl is awesome, she really writes a good tweet, or finds a good one to re-tweet.
Oxfordgirl is great to follow. I think Egyptocracy has been tweeting priceless stuff too– I’ve quoted Egyptocracy’s tweets before in a post if I’m not mistaken. I just missed the RT info in bb’s comment bc I was reading this page from the bottom up and didn’t scroll up enough.
From Twitter, Gaddafi is hiring Nigerians to shoot Libyan protesters–paying them $2,000 a day.
Oh my, what the hell?
Hey BB, did you see this from Gaddafi?
Muammar Gaddafi: I am still in Libya – Telegraph
Scott Walkers anti-abortion crusade:
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/02/wisconsin-scott-walker-abortion
This guy is “ethical?” I guess I was brought up differently: to repect other people’s rights.
The same mindset we see coming out of nujobs like Angle, Palin, Bachmann, and those who insist that this type of devastation should be viewed as “a blessing”. The idiocy of these people is beyond normal comprehension.
These people should be mocked, ridiculed, and condemned for putting themselves in the position of “judge and jury” when it comes to women’s rights.
The same crowd that would insist, that should she have conceived during these assaults, Lara Logan carry to term and accept her plight as “making lemonade out of lemons”.
These people are crazy.
Or the typical expression, everything happens because god has a reason. When I had my miscarriage and later an ectopic pregnancy that was not found until I was 4 months along…I know that the people meant well, but it just mad me more upset and mad.
Why anyone in Wisconsin voted for him, I will never understand.
@Minx, that must have been difficult. The “god has a reason” claptrap is so frustrating at times like that. “Goddess has no reason for unfairness and injustice.” That’s how I feel when people say god has a reason.
Oh, it was frustrating Wonk…
This guy would gladly switch to the bible over the consitutiton.
I saw the link about wanting to investigate miscarriages in Georgia and first I was horrified, then I got a sneaking suspicion and checked out the comments…
The women were all saying these people are nuts and we need to stop them now. They weren’t hard liberals, they were women who saw how this law could effect THEM as something like this could potentially effect every woman in this country, rich or poor. It’s not some welfare mom or teenager who doesn’t have enough cash to pay off regular doctors for her care and has to visit clinics like Planned Parenthood, it’s one in three pregnancies.
What I’m saying, and perhaps it’s crazy, is I hope all the nutjobs propose laws like these all over the country because it might make women finally say NO WAY. I of course hope it doesn’t pass. But it might just be the final step over the line that lights the fire. It seems like the best thing with all these tea party whackjobs or hard right neophytes is that they don’t know the old game of taking a little at a time so no one notices like they’ve been doing for years. No these idiots go way too far right away and people get to see their agenda for the insanity it is. And perhaps moderate women who haven’t wanted to get into the middle of the abortion fight will finally pick a side.
The batshit right overreach is inexplicable…if we didn’t know any better, we’d almost have to suspect they’re trying to bring out the liberals in voters again.
It’s super clever of the powers that be to defund the States so they can turn around and say ” We’re broke!”
Sure they are if the fed doesn’t send moola…and the fed can’t send moola, cause it’s got two wars to drain the treasury of China with and an 800 billion tax cuts to billionaires to give out…so sorry selfish teachers no living wage for you /snark
Yep, I think that was the plan when they picked Obama.
I think it may have even been the plan when Kerry picked Obama for his 2004 Convention speech.
Absolutely Wonk…Obama hadn’t even won his seat and he gets the DMC keynote speech??
Kerry job : sink Dean, lay down for Bush…paved the way for Barry…no wonder he thought he’d be SOS! lol!
Breitbart is at it again. Got video of doctors handing out notes. That should make some people happy, I guess.
http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/02/21/university-of-wisconsin-medical-school-launches-investigation-of-doctors-fake-sick-notes/
Andrew Breitbart: model of “ethical” behavior.
It smelled like Breitbart!
Just as a general remark: When the powers that be go 100% criminal…as they have been , there’s little Hillary can do about it …if she could meet that problem , shoe would have done so in 2008 and she’s be our President…she’s not. When the upper crust moves as one, Hill can’t stop it…it’s been gallant of her to try all this time.
paper doll, great general remark 😉 I agree.
I linked to that BAR piece at the end about supporting Obama royalty instead peace and jobs and justice, and identifying with MO instead of poor grieving Palestinian or Congolese mother, and I had to stop and think do I identify with Hillary more or Khaled Said’s mother right now? I mean if I could identify with both, that’d be ideal of course, but if I had to choose, I think you might guess my answer.
When Hill took the SOS job, I was relieved she would be the one adult in the room at least. I still am. But, I guess I’m not a perfect Hillary supporter because I think I want to see her go off and do her own foundation work sooner than later now.
I linked to two other really good reads in the post up top about Hill’s tenure as SOS–one is her interview with Harper’s Bazaar and the other is a long CNN piece on her work. She’s done a lot and I really think history will judge her legacy of putting women’s rights in every nook and cranny of foreign policy and national security as way ahead of her times and seminal human rights work. But, I think the Obama Admin is a sinking ship and there is increasingly less and less meaningful work for her to do there. Just headache and get blamed for his empty suit policies.
Wonk, it’s that dang Hill loyalty and thinking of the people at foggy bottom ( and America) that is staying her hand imo…but I’m guessing she’s bail after his first term….( or be pushed out) and frankly foundation work is what will be left to her when the tide of criminality further rises.
She had to leave the Senate because of this rising tide…leaving Government altogether is next. She can still be a force for good with foundation work , even if this trend continues, and like you, I am looking forward to it
Paper Doll – WORD!
you say it for me so often.
The two great parts of the CNN article:
“It’s not uncommon for Clinton to pop down to the cafeteria or walk into a suite of offices and stop at people’s desks. She regularly records video messages to the employees wishing them a happy new year or a happy Mother’s Day. It’s all part of an effort to make people feel part of the team.
[snip]
“Usually at meetings with leaders, they each deliver their points and everyone else listens, ” Mull said. “In some of my meetings with her on Iran, she would say, ‘Steve, why don’t you tell the minister what you were telling me?’ You have to be on your game and be well-informed. No secretary of state has ever turned to me to address the princes or the foreign ministers and offer my views. It’s an intimidating, but an incredibly empowering and enriching experience.”
Clinton also was the first agency head to provide benefits for same-sex partners of employees, using the prerogatives at her disposal. The move put pressure on the White House to extend similar benefits throughout the administration.
“These are her troops,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary Philippe Reines, a long-time close adviser. “She wants to take care of them. She wants them to be the best equipped to do their jobs and she knows what they are doing is not easy. She knows how many have died on her watch.”
“Losing Holbrooke
None of Clinton’s troops was closer to her than Holbrooke, who was all but certain to be nominated as secretary of state had she won the presidency.
On the night Holbrooke died, Clinton held court with two dozen of his staff, family and friends assembled at the hospital.
While it was “very clear that she was grieving,” said Derek Choellet, former deputy director of policy planning, who has since moved to the White House, Clinton “had clearly decided we were going to push forward. It wasn’t a matter of, ‘We are going to push forward and put this in the past.’ It was, ‘I could add to this by being mournful and bring it down, but I’m going to hold this thing together and bring these people with me,’ and that is what she did that night in a real human way.
“It was just a genuinely human moment which showed what an incredible person she is. She stepped up in such a big way. It wasn’t just about empathy or being a good person. She was being a leader and it showed.”
Campbell said that personal interest is why people are loyal to her.”
I enjoyed those parts a lot too. It was surprising to see such a comprehensive piece from CNN of all outlets.
Thanks so much for linking to Tavernise’s piece, Wonk. Nir Rosen’s tweets had reminded me of an interview he gave a while ago where he said that female reporters have it easier, just cover up and go anywhere! Travel may be broadening, but the cluelessness of Rolling Stone contributors is impervious to any form of education, experience, or contact between their heads and the hardest known substances in the universe.
Seriously,
I’m really glad you commented on Tavernise’s Reporting While Female… I was hoping someone would. The experience she shares at the end about the man with the peaches:
just so quietly disturbing and haunting. spoke volumes.
The open letter to Lara from the woman journalist made me choke up when she said
Which also spoke so many volumes, I thought.
I don’t know on what planet women have it easier. No one asked why was Anderson Cooper in Tahrir square or what was he wearing upon the news of his attack.
I’ve written some stuff about the Lara Logan assault and the media coverage/discussion, that I have been unable to bring myself to post, but BB and Minx did some really poignant posts on it–you probably read them, but in case you missed them:
https://skydancingblog.com/2011/02/15/late-night-thoughts-and-reactions/
https://skydancingblog.com/2011/02/16/musings-about-my-reaction-to-news-of-the-attack-on-lara-logan/
https://skydancingblog.com/2011/02/19/late-night-stream-of-consciousness/
I had read them both, they were very moving. That image from Reporting While Female sort of reminded me of this guy I know, an American, telling me this story about recently being somewhere, somewhere in India, I think, and walking behind this woman who was being harassed on the street for the way she was dressed. The harassing guy then turned to him and started bothering him, asking if she was his girlfriend and why he let her go out like that and all this. And I mean, okay, I understand that if American Guy had tried to intervene on the woman’s behalf, it probably wouldn’t have done her any good, he was just passing through and it would have been possibly worse for her after he left. But what irks me is that that’s not why he didn’t do anything, he just didn’t care. It only became an issue for him after he started getting bothered, and it was quite a big deal because being able to walk down the street unmolested is something that he just takes for granted. Yet, being harassed and groped and worse is a daily occurance for women all over the world, and ho hum, just adapt to it, get used to it, why worry, that’s just how it is.