Monday Reads: They are different from you and me …
Posted: August 15, 2016 Filed under: 2016 elections | Tags: black ledger, Donald Trump, Paul Manfort, poor, Ukraine, wealthy 36 Comments“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different.”
from “All the Sad Young Men” published in 1926 by F Scott Fitzgerald
Good Morning!
Half of the global wealth is held by the richest 1% in the world according to a recent Oxfam report. A good deal of it is salted away in the world’s “treasure isles” or banking havens. This is especially true for those wealthy despots that raid the treasuries of their countries. The global elite tend to run in international circles and have a lot more in common with each other than the rest of the countrymen they grift. I’m reminded of all of this as we continue to unravel the reality of the Trump Campaign which just seems to be yet another grab at more wealth and power using propaganda and lies.
The latest Trump scandal is a good lesson in this and it explains why Russian despots appear to be squarely in the middle of the US campaign for President. We’re living through another shocking Gilded Age but where are the Trotskyites that bring down the Czars? Where are the FDRs that moderate American excess with a New Deal?
It is certainly not within the camps of Trump and Paul Manafort. Yesterday, we learned exactly how twisted the tentacles get with this headline from The New York Times: “Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief”. Is Manafort an unregistered Foreign Agent? Is Donald Trump complicit or a dupe?
And Mr. Manafort’s presence remains elsewhere here in the capital, where government investigators examining secret records have found his name, as well as companies he sought business with, as they try to untangle a corrupt network they say was used to loot Ukrainian assets and influence elections during the administration of Mr. Manafort’s main client, former President Viktor F. Yanukovych.
Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials.
In addition, criminal prosecutors are investigating a group of offshore shell companies that helped members of Mr. Yanukovych’s inner circle finance their lavish lifestyles, including a palatial presidential residence with a private zoo, golf course and tennis court. Among the hundreds of murky transactions these companies engaged in was an $18 million deal to sell Ukrainian cable television assets to a partnership put together by Mr. Manafort and a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin.
Also,this arrived to the Twitter feed yesterday along with a picture of Ivanka on vacation with Putin’s latest squeeze, the ex wife of Rupert Murdoch Wendy Deng. Exactly how are Trump’s racists and working white groupies to take all this information? You think a few banking execs on Wall Street want money and power? That’s kindergarten rent-seeking compared to the company that Trump and Manafort keep.
The funny thing about all this is Deng is rumored to be dating frequently shirtless despot Vladimir Putin, who may or may not have authorized the hacking of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails, and whom Donald Trump swears he has no financial tethers to, despite a new trove of evidence to the contrary. Here would be a good place for the thinking-face emoji, but I’d argue the Trumps know exactly what they’re doing. Tight stuff.
So, both are disturbing pictures of the kind of things that lead to conspiracy theories about shadowy global networks of bankers. Only, this is a black ledger and unlikely to wind up in anything but an account in a Treasure Isle. All $12.7 million of it. We’ll be fortunate to find it among the Swiss Banks accounts.
The ledgers, discovered in the Party of Regions headquarters following the 2014 revolution that forced Yanukovych to flee to Russia, were given to investigators by Viktor Trepak, a former Ukrainian domestic intelligence official, Manzhura said. He received the documents from an undisclosed source.
The “black ledger” includes more than 20,000 line items, and investigators are sifting through the names, primarily seeking proof that government officials were receiving bribes. The agency cannot make indictments but must pass on any evidence to prosecutors, who can decide whether to file charges. Manzhura said that processing the list will take a long time, as will matching signatures to individuals and proving that money actually changed hands.
For investigators, she said, Manafort is not the priority.
“He’s not a Ukrainian government official, so taking into account the role and tasks of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Paul Manafort is not the number-one priority to investigate on this list,” Manzhura said.
It did not appear that Manafort had signed the ledger himself, she added.
“The signatures against his surname probably don’t belong to him; they belong to other people,” she said, adding they may have been intermediaries. “So this information needs to be checked separately.”
The Times reported that Ukrainian officials are also investigating numerous offshore companies that allegedly funded the high-rolling lifestyles of Yanukovych and those close to him. The deals made by these companies include a multimillion-dollar plan to sell Ukrainian cable television assets that involved Manafort and a Russian oligarch who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, though the Times reported that Manafort is not a target in the Ukrainian investigation of offshore companies.
Manafort is no stranger to controversy, controversial figures or global dealmaking. His friends have labeled him “the Count of Monte Cristo,” the hero of a 19th century novel.
So, will the Donald dump him or maintain that infamous Trump loyalty to the folks that are known to do the black deeds for him? Manafort is 
denying the payments.
“Once again, the New York Times has chosen to purposefully ignore facts and professional journalism to fit their political agenda, choosing to attack my character and reputation rather than present an honest report,” Manafort said in a statement obtained by NBC News. “The suggestion that I accepted cash payments is unfounded, silly and nonsensical.”
The story comes a little more than a day after the Times published a story examining the internal struggles facing Trump’s campaign, a story that also elicited strong responses from the Republican nominee and his campaign.
It’s unclear if Manafort actually received payments, but prosecutors told the Times that Manafort “must have realized the implications of his financial dealings.”
But Manafort strongly denied that he ever received off-the-books payments or has done work with the governments of Ukraine or Russia.
“My work in Ukraine ceased following the country’s parliamentary elections in October 2014,” Manafort says. “In addition, as the article points out hesitantly, every government official interviewed states I have done nothing wrong.”
The Times story was retweeted by Corey Lewandowski, the former Trump campaign manager and Manafort rival who was fired in June.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, Robby Mook, called the alleged connections between Manafort and members of pro-Russian factions troubling.
“Donald Trump has a responsibility to disclose campaign chair Paul Manafort’s and all other campaign employees’ and advisers’ ties to Russian or pro-Kremlin entities, including whether any of Trump’s employees or advisers are currently representing and or being paid by them,” Mook said in a statement.
Troubling indeed. Meanwhile, the most likely Trump supporters who raise the likes of Trump up as some kind of hero, demonize the very poorest. We really haven’t come very far from the Reagan Years when women with hard scrabble lives were made the center of all evil in the world. Check out the comparisons of these surveys.
Sharp differences along lines of race and politics shape American attitudes toward the poor and poverty, according to a new survey of public opinion, which finds empathy toward the poor and deep skepticism about government antipoverty efforts.
The differences illuminate some of the passions that have driven this year’s contentious presidential campaign.
But the poll, which updates a survey The Times conducted three decades ago, also illustrates how attitudes about poverty have remained largely consistent over time despite dramatic economic and social change.
Criticism of the poor – a belief that there are “plenty of jobs available for poor people,” that government programs breed dependency and that most poor people would “prefer to stay on welfare” – is especially common among the blue-collar, white Americans who have given the strongest support to Donald Trump.
The opposite view — that jobs for the poor are hard to find, that government programs help people get back on their feet and that most of the poor would rather earn their own way — is most widely held among blacks and other minorities, who have provided the strongest backing to Hillary Clinton.
Roughly a third of self-described conservatives say that the poor do not work very hard, a view at odds with big majorities of moderates and liberals.
But while Americans disagree in how they view the poor, they’re more united in their skepticism of government programs.
This is perhaps why the Southern Strategy has worked almost too well. It’s blasting through loud and clear in the work of Trump and his cronies. Trump surrounds himself with Republican Ratfuckers.
It’s this mercenary value system that explains why Manafort has made a career out of advising monstrous dictators and conscienceless oligarchs. Manipulating people’s anger and insecurities into fear and rage has been his trademark for his entire career, which is why he could not care less about Trump’s negative influence on the body politic or his incitements to violence.
He doesn’t care about anything but winning, and if his ties to Putin can help Trump, he doesn’t care about the implications of that either.
Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials.
In addition, criminal prosecutors are investigating a group of offshore shell companies that helped members of Mr. Yanukovych’s inner circle finance their lavish lifestyles, including a palatial presidential residence with a private zoo, golf course and tennis court. Among the hundreds of murky transactions these companies engaged in was an $18 million deal to sell Ukrainian cable television assets to a partnership put together by Mr. Manafort and a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin.
I don’t know how anyone can not be suspicious that Manafort might have something to do with the way pilferedDemocratic Party emails and text messages are being selectively released to do damage to Hillary Clinton for the benefit of Manafort’s newest client. The consensus among analysts and the intelligence agencies that Putin’s Russia is behind the hacking is very high, and obviously Trump believes it himself since he asked Russia to do more of it.
In any case, Manafort has been partnered up with folks like Charlie Black, Lee Atwater, and Roger Stone (the most notorious political ratf*ker of all time) for more than thirty years.
So, I give you one of the tangled webs woven by some of the most despicable people on the planet. This explains why David Duke and Stormfront love the dude, but how do explain every one’s crazy uncle and cousin? And, how shiny are your bootstraps today?
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
Friday Reads: Nearly Every one Loves Hillary these Days
Posted: August 5, 2016 Filed under: 2016 elections, morning reads 41 CommentsGood Morning!
Things keep getting stranger and stranger on the U.S. Political front. I guess that’s what you get when one of the candidates likely has a severe personality disorder.
Dubya’s CIA Director is the latest foreign policy guru to dump on Trump. Michael Morrell just endorsed Clinton on the op Ed page of NYT. This is the guy that was in charge of the agency during 9/11. He was also the Director under Obama during the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011. He’s technically a registered independent and stays out of politics.
On Nov. 8, I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, I will do everything I can to ensure that she is elected as our 45th president.
Two strongly held beliefs have brought me to this decision. First, Mrs. Clinton is highly qualified to be commander in chief. I trust she will deliver on the most important duty of a president — keeping our nation safe. Second, Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security.
I spent four years working with Mrs. Clinton when she was secretary of state, most often in the White House Situation Room. In these critically important meetings, I found her to be prepared, detail-oriented, thoughtful, inquisitive and willing to change her mind if presented with a compelling argument.
I also saw the secretary’s commitment to our nation’s security; her belief that America is an exceptional nation that must lead in the world for the country to remain secure and prosperous; her understanding that diplomacy can be effective only if the country is perceived as willing and able to use force if necessary; and, most important, her capacity to make the most difficult decision of all — whether to put young American women and men in harm’s way.
Mrs. Clinton was an early advocate of the raid that brought Bin Laden to justice, in opposition to some of her most important colleagues on the National Security Council. During the early debates about how we should respond to the Syrian civil war, she was a strong proponent of a more aggressive approach, one that might have prevented the Islamic State from gaining a foothold in Syria.
I never saw her bring politics into the Situation Room. In fact, I saw the opposite. When some wanted to delay the Bin Laden raid by one day because the White House Correspondents Dinner might be disrupted, she said, “Screw the White House Correspondents Dinner.”
In sharp contrast to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump has no experience on national security. Even more important, the character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief.
You can go read the latest complete evisceration of Trump’s unsuitability for the Presidency. Crazy Charles Krauthammer also spends a lot of ink in WAPO doing a Trump Take down but only strongly suggests he mends his evil
Of course we all try to protect our own dignity and command respect. But Trump’s hypersensitivity and unedited, untempered Pavlovian responses are, shall we say, unusual in both ferocity and predictability.
This is beyond narcissism. I used to think Trump was an 11-year-old, an undeveloped schoolyard bully. I was off by about 10 years. His needs are more primitive, an infantile hunger for approval and praise, a craving that can never be satisfied. He lives in a cocoon of solipsism where the world outside himself has value — indeed exists — only insofar as it sustains and inflates him.
Most politicians seek approval. But Trump lives for the adoration. He doesn’t even try to hide it, boasting incessantly about his crowds, his standing ovations, his TV ratings, his poll numbers, his primary victories. The latter are most prized because they offer empirical evidence of how loved and admired he is.
Prized also because, in our politics, success is self-validating. A candidacy that started out as a joke, as a self-aggrandizing exercise in xenophobia, struck a chord in a certain constituency and took off. The joke was on those who believed that he was not a serious man and therefore would not be taken seriously. They — myself emphatically included — were wrong.
As Boston Boomer posted yesterday, the polls continue to show a tremendous post convention bounce. States are at play that would normally not elect a Democrat.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has surged to a 15-point lead over reeling, gaffe-plagued Republican Donald Trump, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll.
Clinton made strong gains with two constituencies crucial to a Republican victory – whites and men – while scoring important gains among fellow Democrats, the poll found.
Clinton not only went up, but Trump also went down. Clinton now has a 48-33 percent lead, a huge turnaround from her narrow 42-39 advantage last month.
The findings are particularly significant because the poll was taken after both political conventions ended and as Trump engaged in a war of words with the parents of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in an explosion in Iraq 12 years ago while trying to rescue other soldiers.
An NBC/WJS poll shows the Clinton/Kaine ticket leading by 9 points.
In this latest poll, Clinton enjoys a significant advantage among women (51 percent to Trump’s 35 percent), African Americans (91 percent to 1 percent), all non-white voters (69 percent to 17 percent), young voters (46 percent to 34 percent), and white voters with a college degree (47 percent to 40 percent).
Trump leads among white voters (45 percent to Clinton’s 40 percent), seniors (46 percent to 43 percent), independents (36 percent to 32 percent) and white voters without a college degree (49 percent to 36 percent).
The two candidates are running nearly even among men, at 43 percent for Clinton and 42 percent for Trump.
As Charles Blow put it yesterday, the one demographic she seems to lose are fragile white men and mostly those without college educations. How fragile are these guys anyway?
These are the voters keeping Trump’s candidacy alive.
He appeals to a regressive, patriarchal American whiteness in which white men prospered, in part because racial and ethnic minorities, to say nothing of women as a whole, were undervalued and underpaid, if not excluded altogether.
White men reigned supreme in the idealized history, and all was good with the world. (It is curious that Trump never specifies a period when America was great in his view. Did it overlap with the women’s rights, civil rights or gay rights movements? For whom was it great?)
Trump’s wall is not practical, but it is metaphor. Trump’s Muslim ban is not feasible, but it is metaphor. Trump’s huge deportation plan isn’t workable, but it is metaphor.
There is a portion of the population that feels threatened by unrelenting change — immigration, globalization, terrorism, multiculturalism — and those people want someone to, metaphorically at least, build a wall around their cultural heritage, which they conflate in equal measure with American heritage.
In their minds, whether explicitly or implicitly, America is white, Christian, straight and male-dominated. If you support Trump, you are on some level supporting his bigotry and racism. You don’t get to have a puppy and not pick up the poop.
And acceptance of racism is an act of racism. You are convicted by your complicity.
The white male agita has become worse this week and I’ve seen and heard angst about Clinton from that same demographic since the focus has been high on the historic nature of the nomination.
We’ve been having conversations about if white men really have that many mommy issues here. See Samantha B and Amanda Marcotte for that too. It’s more like one group having a national temper tantrum more than anything else. The complaints are openly delusional and patently false. It’s a weird siege mentality.
Here’s a few things you may want to check out:
First, this is how a real man handles a crying baby.
A neuroscientist explains what may be wrong with Trump supporters’ brains.
Some believe that many of those who support Donald Trump do so because of ignorance — basically they are under-informed or misinformed about the issues at hand. When Trump tells them that crime is skyrocketing in the United States, or that the economy is the worst it’s ever been, they simply take his word for it.
The seemingly obvious solution would be to try to reach those people through political ads, expert opinions, and logical arguments that educate with facts. Except none of those things seem to be swaying any Trump supporters from his side, despite great efforts to deliver this information to them directly.
The Dunning-Kruger effect explains that the problem isn’t just that they are misinformed; it’s that they are completely unaware that they are misinformed. This creates a double burden.
A Purple Heart Recipient takes it to Trump. J.R. Martinez to Donald Trump: Stop Disrespecting Military Veterans and Fallen Soldiers
My hope is that your actions and words do not continue to erode our civil discourse. I pray that good people in this country continue to be shocked by your rhetoric because that means they agree that your words and actions have no place in society, much less in the Oval Office.
You have stated that all press is good press. It’s an interesting strategy that has thus far worked for you. But this, the memory of our fallen soldiers, their families, former POWs, and the proud recipients of the Purple Heart honor. This is not the position from which you should be getting your press. This is off-limits.
Please remember that the people you are speaking about, our brave men and women of the armed forces make up less than 1% of the population. However, if you become commander in chief, they will be the people who are going to fight for you regardless of personal politics. These are the people who will defend you. These are their families you are talking about. These are not the people you want to continue to carry out your petty grievances and personal attacks with.
I respectfully suggest you get a primer on the word sacrifice, as well as a lesson in human decency.
You may have noticed I’m a little absent here recently. I’m going through some enormous challenges in my life right now. The University where I have worked for the last five years has changed some rules and created a situation where I cannot teach. The result has been an enormous strain on my finances and right now, I’m fighting to keep my home. I’m also finding out how challenging it is for a 60 year old woman to be taken seriously as a job candidate any where. My life has pretty much gone into a free fall over the last six months with freak things happening to my car and house and this. The anxiety is really causing me severe health problems and of course, I’ve lost my health insurance too. Anyway, be good to each other and appreciate all that you have today. Every thing is so fragile and impermanent.
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
Thursday Night: It’s Time for Hillary
Posted: July 28, 2016 Filed under: 2016 elections | Tags: DNC COnvention Philadelphia 2016 95 CommentsIt’s that time of the DNC Convention! It’s time to hear from Hillary Clinton our next President!
Chelsea Clinton will be introducing her mother as the Democratic Nominee. This should be an interesting contrast to the Sith Lord’s dark vision for and of our country.
Here’s a preview from the LATimes.
As released by the campaign, here are portions of what Hillary Clinton plans to say tonight as the first woman to accept a major party’s nomination for president:
“America is once again at a moment of reckoning. Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart. Bonds of trust and respect are fraying. And just as with our founders there are no guarantees. It truly is up to us. We have to decide whether we’re going to work together so we can all rise together.
“We are clear-eyed about what our country is up against. But we are not afraid. We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have.
“So I want to tell you tonight how we’re going to empower all Americans to live better lives. My primary mission as president will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages right here in the United States. From my first day in office to my last. Especially in places that for too long have been left out and left behind. From our inner cities to our small towns, Indian Country to Coal Country. From the industrial Midwest to the Mississippi Delta to the Rio Grande Valley.
“The choice we face is just as stark when it comes to our national security. Anyone reading the news can see the threats and turbulence we face. From Baghdad and Kabul, to Nice and Paris and Brussels, to San Bernardino and Orlando, we’re dealing with determined enemies that must be defeated. No wonder people are anxious and looking for reassurance — looking for steady leadership.
“Every generation of Americans has come together to make our country freer, fairer, and stronger. None of us can do it alone. That’s why we are stronger together.”
The story behind Michelle Obama’s beautiful blue dress on Monday night is truly beautiful too.
The ever-stylish first lady of the United States, 52, donned a custom Christian Siriano dress with cap sleeves and an A-line silhouette, dipped in the Democrats’ signature shade — it almost perfectly matched the backdrop. (While Obama’s was made to order, a very similar style is available for $995 at christiansiriano.com.) She added an understated touch of shine with dangling earrings and metallic, pointed-toe Jimmy Choo pumps.
“It is an incredible honor to have such an amazing woman wear one of my creations,”Siriano, 30, said in a statement. “I am in such awe.”
Sirano is best known for using the word “fierce” on Project Runway and dressing the fabulous Leslie Jones of the remade “Ghostbusters” and victim of racist and fat-shaming bullying on Twitter. Sirano is also known for designing dress for full figured women.
“I just don’t think anyone should be excluded from having a beautiful dress,” he said to me when we were talking about the Jones brouhaha, and why he had volunteered to play fairy godfather.
Lest you think Mrs. Obama’s wardrobe choice was just happenstance, however, know that the convention appearance was only the second time she has worn Mr. Siriano; the first time was this month, at the funeral for the police officers killed in Dallas.
Throughout her time in the White House, the first lady has made something of a secondary cause out of supporting new, independent American designers, and choosing her clothes not only because she likes them but because their back story has a certain resonance that goes beyond the aesthetic. Monday night was no different. Fashion is not known for its embrace of togetherness (more for its exclusion). But Mr. Siriano is.
Fierce! Like Michelle Obama and our next President Hillary Clinton!!!
The Democratic National Convention comes to a conclusion Thursday night with the nomination of Hillary Clinton, no surprise there. First daughter Chelsea is expected to make the introduction. Also speaking tonight: former Mayor Michael Nutter; actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen; Pa. Gov. Wolf; basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabaar; and performances by Carole King and Katy Perry.
Jennifer Granholm is warming up the crowd right now and I understand Kareem Abdul-Jabaar is on his way!
Here‘s a brief look at the schedule for the Democratic National Convention tonight!! #DemsInPhilly
Musical performance by Carole King.
Remarks by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC); Hillary for America’s Marlon Marshall; House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi; Sen. Barbara Mikulski; Hillary for America’s Lorella Praeli; Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX); NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Stronger Together: An Economy That Works For Us All. Remarks by Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH); Colo. Gov. John Hickenlooper; Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen; home care worker Henrietta Ivey; worker Betha Mathias; equal pay advocates Jensen Walcott & Jake Reed; Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf; former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Stronger Together: Americans for Hillary. Remarks by former Reagan Administration official Doug Elmets; Director of Health Policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and co-founder of Republican Women for Hillary Jennifer Pierotti Lim.
Stronger Together: Tribute to Fallen Law Enforcement Officers. Remarks by Dallas Sheriff Lupe Valdez; family members of fallen law enforcement officers Jennifer Loudon, Wayne Walker, Wayne Owens, Barbara Owens.
Stronger Together: An Inclusive America. Remarks by Rev. William Barber, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar; mother of fallen Muslim U.S. soldier Khizr Khan.
Stronger Together: Supporting Our Military. Remarks by Ted Lieu (D-CA); Gen. John Allen (USMC, retired), former commander, International Security Assistance Forces and commander, U.S. Forces in Afghanistan; Medal of Honor recipient Cpt. Flo Groberg (U.S. Army, retired); actress Chloe Grace Moretz; Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA).
Musical performance by Katy Perry.
Here we go!!!!
Let’s Celebrate that it’s TIME FOR HILLARY!!!
Live Blog: It’s Official!! Hillary Clinton has made Herstory!!
Posted: July 26, 2016 Filed under: 2016 elections, Live Blog 130 CommentsIt’s official! Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has become the first woman ever to win the presidential nomination of one of the two major parties.
This is the Louisiana Delegation featuring Mayor Mitch Landrieu, former Senator Mary Landrieu, and State Senator Karen Carter Peterson
Vermont ends it all: On behalf of Bernie Sanders, “who has changed the trajectory of this country in a way that will make the lives of working Americans better for generations to come,” a delegate said, “Vermont casts our votes: 22 votes for our beloved Senator Sanders and four for the next president, Hillary Clinton.” Then Sanders himself addressed the crowd: “I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States.”
Former President Bill Clinton applauds First Lady Michelle Obama as Eric Holder and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland take their seats during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia , Monday, July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe has followed the roll count with an inspirational talk on his personal relationship with the Clintons as well as speaking to his pride in his Virginia’s favorite son Tim Kain, the Vice presidential nominee. Here’s the Schedule for this evening’s speakers where the keynoter will be former President and future First Gentleman Bill Clinton.
Starting at 10 p.m., the latest speakers will echo the day two theme, “A lifetime of fighting for children and families.” According to NJ Advance Media, the convention Tuesday night will hear from Philadelphia children’s advocate Thaddeus Desmond, a fifth-grade teacher in Arkansas named Dustin Parsons and a student who works at an academy for at-risk youth.
The Clinton campaign will also fold in its platform on gun control, with speakers like Anton Moore, who founded a youth group to talk about gun violence, and representatives from Mothers of the Movement, an organization of mothers who have lost children to gun deaths or police brutality.
Tuesday big-name politicians include Democratic National Committee vice chair of voter registration and participation Donna Brazile, former Georgia state Sen. Jason Carter and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Last but not least, Clinton’s husband Bill will headline the night, likely delivering a speech appealing to his ethos as former president to voice his enthusiastic support for his wife.
CNN announces the moment via my friend Matt Harris from Georgia
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi–standing with all the Democratic Congresswomen –is discussing how Clinton will be shattering the “Marble” ceiling. The theme of unleashing the power of women and helping our children is key to the program tonight because this is Hillary’s crusade. The theme is entitled “A Lifetime of Fighting for Children and Families“. Each Congresswoman is speaking on the role of women in creating our great country.
Tuesday will feature the roll call vote and how Hillary has spent her entire career working to make a difference for children, families, and our country. The Mothers of the Movement participating include Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner; Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin; Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontré Hamilton; Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis; Lezley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown; Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley, mother of Hadiya Pendleton; Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland.
Headlining speakers
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton
(This is an excerpt of a bio taken from the White House’s website.) Bill Clinton is an American politician from Arkansas who served as the 42nd President of the United States (1993-2001). He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first baby-boomer generation President.Mothers of the Movement
Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner; Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin; Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontré Hamilton; Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis; Lezley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown; Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley, mother of Hadiya Pendleton; Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland.
You can find the names of the other speakers at the link .
Cameron Joseph provides the picture of when Senator Bernie Sanders moves to unify the party by asking the party to suspend the rules to acclaim Hillary Clinton the nominee.
Here’s my Friend Franklin live from the floor at the very moment it happened representing for Augusta!!!
Meanwhile! Let’s Celebrate!!!
Monday Reads: Let’s Party On!
Posted: July 25, 2016 Filed under: 2016 elections | Tags: Bernie Sanders, Clinton/Kaine 2016, Corey Booker. Eilzabeth Warren, DNC Philadelphia 2016, Donald Trump and fascism, front pagers, Hillary Clinton, michelle obama 75 CommentsGood Afternoon!! 
I’m looking forward to the opening Gavel of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia tonight. Ohio Congress woman Marsha Fudge is the chair now of this DNC. The other DNC is being chaired temporarily by Donna Brazile. Elizabeth Warren will be the Keynote Democratic Convention speaker tonight. Other speakers include Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), first lady Michelle Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
It is rumored that Bernie Sanders will turn over his delegates tonight. We shall see and we shall have an open thread for it. I’m excited to hear Booker, Michelle, and Warren. Hopefully, Michelle will joke mightily on how she has already had her words ring through the RNC.
Meanwhile, as you may have noticed, we have a new front pager. We’ve known her for a very long time as BlueLyon. Today, she’s our woman on the spot in Philadelphia as an important member of Team Hillary Nevada! She’s also been working since the caucuses with one of Hillary’s organizers that came to work with me in Louisiana so we’re getting all of our six degrees of separation connected! I’m going to be working on the Florida general as part of Team Louisiana but if I get a chance to call up to Nevada I surely will. I’ve got that image of the front of USA Today because Carissa is right there representing for Nevada and Hillary.
If you have an Apple phone. You can call and volunteer for Team Hillary and win cool swag. The Android ap is on its way. Check out the apple ap here. Help out those hard workers like Carissa Snedeker who are fighting to win a key state if you’re in a red state like me, or a super safe blue state like Boston Booomer.
I can’t think of a better way to welcome BlueLyon to our front page than by sharing the USA Today interview with her from Philadelphia. Well, that and to remind you that she is one helluva photographer too!!
“I’m so excited about the prospect that there could be children who are born who have never seen a
white man in the White House as president because we’ve had eight years of Barack Obama and then maybe we go to a woman and it’s just the paradigm, it’s changes the conversation in a way that I’ve seen in my own lifetime. I’m a child of the ‘60s and ‘70s and, I mean, the horrific things that are happening now, but yet we have marriage equality, and we have trans rights and we’re talking about gay people where they’re our neighbors and they don’t have to hide anymore, and women can be CEOs and there’s no help wanted ads where “help wanted male” and “help wanted female.” I’ve seen all these things change in my life so I know that we can still keep making progress. I don’t want to go backwards, I want to go forwards. I want to move forward, and that’s why I do this.”
So, obviously she’s very very busy and will check in with us when she can! Give her a great welcome and wish her luck!!!
So here’s a treat!!! There will be painted Donkeys all over Philadelphia this week. I’m going to feature some pix of them. Fifty Seven Donkeys will be on display throughout Philadelphia.
Ed Rendell came up with the idea. Obviously.
A collection of 57 painted donkey statues will decorate Philadelphia during the months of July and August, the former governor and current chairman of the Democratic National Convention host committee announced today at a press conference. The point of the donkeys, he says, is to get Philadelphians excited about this summer’s Democratic Convention and encourage delegates to visit different parts of the city. We’re guessing it doesn’t hurt that the donkeys will inevitably inspire tons of photo-ops and selfies, too.
“You all remember the bulls or the cows in Chicago,” Rendell said. “I thought, what a great idea to have donkeys around town. … The host committee wants this to be a great convention for the Democratic Party, but we also want it to be a great convention for the people of Philadelphia.”
That being said, not all the Bernie supporters are getting on the Hillary Train. I have a feeling we’re having similar problems to the ones we had in 2008 where Hillary Blogs got completely overrun by republican ratfucking Tea Partiers! If you were with us when this blog turned from my personal file cabinet to a functioning blog, you’ll remember it well. I do believe those folks abandoned Hillary eventually and went on to hate her as much as they hated President Obama. We were very critical of the President here–especially in his first term–because he seemed overly willing to give in to Republicans. That being said, Obama learned a few lessons and he’s been doing great and we support him while still being critical based on whatever issues we care about. We’ve been investigating Tim Kaine as part of that and are beginning to warm up to him.
The silliest kerfuffle of the day has been the Wikileaks DNC stuff. My bottom line is this on the very idea that an entire state or group of states can be rigged by the DNC. I’m tired of freaking conspiracy theorists from the left and right wing. I don’t think people have a clue about the idea of rigging elections. Just because a bunch of us learned to actively dislike and not vote for a candidate running as a Democrat to Grift the benefits of party apparatus and then actively showing contempt for everyone and everything is not evidence of anything illegal. Party politics with its internecine infighting is always ugly. There are too many state and local governments run by Republicans for a Democratic political entity to rig any state election. If you want to get rid of the worst of it, fight to end caucuses.
Joshua Holland has this to say and I agree completely. What worries me most is the idea that BostonBoomer discussed on Saturday. Trump is beholden financially to the Russian state and most likely the Russian Mafia and it’s likely the hack was done for wikileaks by Russians.
You can’t prove a negative, but when you strip away the furious spin, the DNC leaks provide strong evidence that the DNC did nothing to influence the outcome of the primaries.
The key here is just how candid and unvarnished these discussions were. It’s abundantly clear that they never imagined that these emails would ever see the light of day. They are frank in their contempt for people like Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver. They don’t hesitate to say fuck this or that person. They are open in their discussions of how to respond to various accusations that they were influencing the primaries.
And yet, in almost 20,000 very candid emails among seven high-level DNC officials over a five-month period, there is zero evidence that the organization took any action to tilt the playing field. There is a single email where one staffer floats the idea of intervening in the primaries by questioning Sanders’ religious beliefs in the South, but that idea was shot down. (I think it’s obvious that guy should resign or be fired.)
You can’t prove a negative — maybe they used a Get Smart-style Cone of Silence to discuss rigging the primaries. But one would imagine that in such a large trove of totally unguarded correspondence, some evidence of active intervention would emerge if it were indeed happening.
Again, there’s a lot of spin going on here, including by Wikileaks itself, which has been tweeting links to banal documents with inflammatory editorial comments this am.
The leaks reveal two things that are being spun as evidence that the DNC wasn’t neutral.
First, it’s clear than over the course of the campaign, an enormous amount of bad blood developed between the organization and the Sanders camp. This likely dates back to the NGP-VAN brouhaha. The objective facts were that a Sanders staffer breached the Clinton campaign’s data. The campaign apologized for it, and fired the staffer responsible, but then cried foul when its access was suspended for 24 hours while they investigated how it had happened. Their frustration then grew noticeably when the campaign accused the Nevada Democratic Party of breaking its rules at the state convention — claims that have been widely debunked. Whatever one thinks about those incidents, neutrality does not mean pretending that you aren’t pissed off about constantly being accused of corruption.
Others are seizing on the fact that the DNC leadership seemed pretty sure that HRC would be the party’s nominee. The implication is that they were only so confident because they had a thumb on the scale. The problem with that argument is that if you surveyed Washington DC-based political professionals, it’s likely that 90+ percent of them would tell you that they never though Sanders had much of a chance of securing the nomination. That includes people who *supported* Sanders. I backed him and never thought he could win, and I know many other knowledgeable Sanders supporters who felt the same way. Neutrality doesn’t require either believing that all candidates have an equal shot of winning, or pretending to believe it.
The DNC Leaks would be a big nothingburger aside from the fact that they entailed a very serious breach of donors’ private data, including financial information.
Also troubling is the fact that some individuals or groups, perhaps allied with the Russian government and perhaps not, are very purposefully trying to intervene in the election in a way that might lead to the ascension of a fascist. That’s the part that should be really troubling.
So, I really don’t want to give much space too Trump but there are two links that I really 
think you should have for reference. First, I’d like to just say that it appears that the hackers were Russian.
Is the Kremlin trying to throw the U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump? It sounds like something out of a spy novel. But many cybersecurity experts, as well as the Hillary Clinton campaign, are now saying the Russians are responsible for last month’s hack of the Democratic National Committee.
That hack has dominated the news cycle on the eve of the Democratic convention, and for good reason. The emails disclosed Friday by WikiLeaks are embarrassing. They show DNC chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, plotting to undermine the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, confirming the worst suspicions of the left flank of the party. She resigned her post on Sunday.
But the bigger issue is who was responsible for the hack in the first place. Bob Gourley, a former chief technology officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency and now the co-founder and partner Cognitio, a cybersecurity consultancy, told me Sunday that he thinks the Russians did it.
“The software code that I have seen from the hack had all the telltale signs of being Russian, including code re-used from other attacks,” Gourley told me. “This is a really big deal. Some people in the community are saying this is the Russians pretending to be a hacker, then giving that information to Julian Assange is all part of an operation.” (Assange founded WikiLeaks.)
Gourley is not alone among cybersecurity experts. When the hack of the DNC was first disclosed in June, the security firm Crowdstrike alsopointed to the Russians. Crowdstrike investigated the incident for the Democratic party and concluded it was the same actor that penetrated the State Department, White House and Pentagon unclassified systems in 2015. Describing the code used for the penetration in a blog post, Crowdstrike co-founder Dmitri Alperovitch wrote: “Both adversaries engage in extensive political and economic espionage for the benefit of the government of the Russian Federation and are believed to be closely linked to the Russian government’s powerful and highly capable intelligence services.”
Yesterday, folks were trying to say folks were trying to reignite the cold war. Again, Cybersecurity and Intelligence experts say it’s the Russians not just Clinton Supporters.
Here’s a link which is from Reddit and contains the very troublesome, autocratic records, affiliations, comments, and foreign dictators of Trump. I’ve provided a few examples which are just a few of us outrageous acts of war statements.
Trump openly calls for the U.S to commit war crimes and advocates for the murder of innocent women and children.
- http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/12/15/3732671/trump-isis-kill-family-members/
- http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-reiterates-desire-to-murder-terrorists-families-a6912496.html
- http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/02/politics/donald-trump-terrorists-families/
- http://www.dailywire.com/news/3891/trumps-horrifying-anti-military-slur-last-nights-ben-shapiro/
- http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/3/donald-trump-says-hed-force-us-military-commit-war/
Trump doubles down after veterans speak out claiming U.S soldiers would not commit war crimes or torture children even if ordered to. Trump responds with, “They’re not going to refuse me. If I say do it, they’re going to do it.“
- http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/3/donald-trump-says-hed-force-us-military-commit-war/
- http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/dec/17/rand-paul/rand-pauls-right-geneva-conventions-bar-donald-tru/
- http://theweek.com/speedreads/610361/donald-trump-doubles-down-torture-war-crimes
- http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/The-US-Military-Will-Commit-Donald-Trumps-War-Crimes-20160307-0011.html
- http://reason.com/blog/2016/03/03/donald-trump-says-military-wont-refuse-h
- http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/a-retired-major-general-sets-trump-straight-after-he-advocates-war-crimes/
- http://www.democracynow.org/2016/3/1/donald_trump_wants_to_commit_war
Trump on torture: “Even if it doesn’t work they probably deserved it anyway.”
- http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/11/opinions/trump-wrong-on-american-torture/
- http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/trump-waterboarding-it-works-if-it-doesnt-work-they-deserve-it
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/24/donald-trump-on-waterboarding-even-if-it-doesnt-work-they-deserve-it
Trump renews calls for torture citing public executions and mass rape committed by ISIS promising for the U.S to do the same, “fighting fire with fire.”
Trump says Geneva Conventions a problem and needs to be changed since, US soldiers are to afraid to do their job due to laws which outline the definition of war crimes.
Go check out the entire thing because if you ever need to convince any one we’re dealing with a fascist, this list will open your eyes.
This other link is from The National: “Trump’s vision is one of exclusion and enmity.” I have no doubt that this week in Philadelphia will be all about the opposite thing as we see the faces of all American and not just the angry few.
Historically it’s rare that the public isn’t warned about a would-be demagogue well in advance of their actual rise to power. Typically, this work is done by the narcissistic aspiring strongmen themselves. And in the case of Donald Trump, by now no American can claim they haven’t been put on ample notice about his character and intentions.
Last week’s Republican convention – a festival of rage, loss, anger and hatred – said it all. It was driven by vicious, personalised hatred against the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, as delegates persistently chanted “Lock her up!”
One of Mr Trump’s campaign advisers suggested she should be shot for treason. Ben Carson accused her, literally and with a straight face, of being in league with Satan.
Hysterical outrage was compounded by the relentless cognitive dissonance of a movement that, no matter how brazen, is moving so far beyond the bounds of propriety that it has cultivated some deniability. Virtually every important message was shadowed by some twisted doppelganger lurking visibly in the background and contradicting it.
Mr Trump’s main appeal is his alleged competence. He claims the country is being run by crooks, losers and idiots, three of his favourite epithets, and suggests that not only can he do better, but that “I alone” can solve the apocalyptic “crisis” facing the country.
But the convention itself, and the Trump campaign more broadly, strongly suggest he can’t run a bath. From plagiarism to high-level defections, tedious programming, stunning no-shows and a reliance on the candidate’s own children, rather than national party leaders, to endorse him, one couldn’t have wished for a more thorough refutation of claims of minimal competency, let alone excellence.
After more than a year of unprecedented, systematic dishonesty, Mr Trump posed as a champion of truth. “There will be no lies here,” he promised. It’s easy to tell when he’s lying: his body language, penchant for repetition, and, above all, his insufferable catchphrase: “believe me” are his sure-fire “tells” (unconscious admissions of deception). Whenever he says “believe me”, he knows he’s brazenly lying.
So, I’m going to end with something cheery besides those marvelous Donkey Statues. Hillary has promised us a very different convention from the HATERPALOOZA we saw last week.
Hillary Clinton pledged that Democrats would offer the country “a very different kind of convention” than Republicans as she campaigned Monday in this battleground state a few hours before the start of her party’s gathering in Philadelphia.
“I’m very excited about contrasting our vision and values with what we saw from Donald Trump and the Republicans,” Clinton told supporters packed into a theater here. “He offered a lot of fear, bigotry and smear.”
Here is the link to the live stream from Youtube of the convention. As I type, I’m hearing Spanish!!!
See you during the speeches tonight!! We’ll be here!
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
dakinikat
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
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