Exclusive: While complaining about “fake news” that undercut her campaign, Hillary Clinton continued her own “fake news” falsehood about the U.S. intelligence assessment on Russian election “meddling,” reports Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
Hillary Clinton has grown even more insistent that she was not at fault for her stunning election defeat last November, claiming that 1,000 Russian “agents” and their American collaborators were a decisive factor, a bizarre twist that further locks the Democrats into their evidence-light “Russia-gate” obsession.
Hillary Clinton at the Code 2017 conference on May 31, 2017.
In comments at a California technology conference on Wednesday, Clinton also repeated one of her favorite falsehoods – that all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously concluded that Russia hacked Democratic emails and ran a covert influence campaign against her.
Referring to a report released by President Obama’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on Jan. 6, Clinton asserted that “Seventeen agencies, all in agreement, which I know from my experience as a Senator and Secretary of State, is hard to get. They concluded with high confidence that the Russians ran an extensive information war campaign against my campaign, to influence voters in the election. They did it through paid advertising we think; they did it through false news sites; they did it through these thousand agents; they did it through machine learning, which you know, kept spewing out this stuff over and over again. The algorithms that they developed. So that was the conclusion.”
But Clinton’s statement is false regarding the unanimity of the 17 agencies and misleading regarding her other claims. Both former DNI James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan acknowledged in sworn testimony last month that the Jan. 6 report alleging Russian “meddling” did not involve all 17 agencies.
Clapper and Brennan stated that the report was actually the work of hand-picked analysts from only three agencies – the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation – under the oversight of the DNI’s office. In other words, there was no consensus among the 17 agencies, a process that would have involved some form of a National Intelligence Estimate (or NIE), a community-wide effort that would have included footnotes citing any dissenting views.
Instead, as Clapper testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on May 8, the Russia-hacking claim came from a “special intelligence community assessment” (or ICA) produced by selected analysts from the CIA, NSA and FBI, “a coordinated product from three agencies – CIA, NSA, and the FBI – not all 17 components of the intelligence community,” the former DNI said.
And, as Clapper explained, the “ICA” was something of a rush job beginning on President Obama’s instructions “in early December” and completed by Jan. 6. Clapper continued: “The two dozen or so analysts for this task were hand-picked, seasoned experts from each of the contributing agencies.”
However, as any intelligence veteran will tell you, if you hand-pick the analysts, you are really hand-picking the conclusion since the agency chiefs would know who was, say, a hardliner on Russia and who could be trusted to deliver the desired product.
On May 23, in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, former CIA Director John Brennan confirmed Clapper’s account about the three agencies involved.
“It wasn’t a full inter-agency community assessment that was coordinated among the 17 agencies, and for good reason because of the nature and the sensitivity of the information trying, once again, to keep that tightly compartmented,” Brennan said.
In other words, Clinton’s beloved claim that all 17 intelligence agencies were in agreement on the Russian “hacking” charge – an assertion that the “fact-checking” group Politifact has certified as “true” and that has been repeated endlessly by the mainstream U.S. news media – is not true. It is false. Gee, you might even call it “fake news.”
The Mysterious ‘Agents’
But Clinton’s false claim about the intelligence consensus was not her only dubious assertion. Her reference to the 1,000 Russian “agents” is not contained in the Jan. 6 report, either. It apparently derived from unconfirmed speculation from Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, who mentioned this claim at a news conference on March 30, admitting that he didn’t know if it was true.
President Donald Trump being sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017. (Screen shot from Whitehouse.gov)
Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said: “We know about the hacking, and selective leaks, but what really concerns me as a former tech guy is at least some reports – and we’ve got to get to the bottom of this – that there were upwards of a thousand internet trolls working out of a facility in Russia, in effect taking over a series of computers which are then called botnets, that can then generate news down to specific areas.
“It’s been reported to me, and we’ve got to find this out, whether they were able to affect specific areas in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, where you would not have been receiving off of whoever your vendor might have been, Trump versus Clinton, during the waning days of the election, but instead, ‘Clinton is sick’, or ‘Clinton is taking money from whoever for some source’ … fake news.”
Of course, many stories about Clinton being sick or her taking money from special interests weren’t “fake news.” In late 2012, she suffered from a blood clot and – during the 2016 campaign – she was staggered by a bout of pneumonia. She also was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches to Wall Street and other groups.
Warner didn’t specify where his information about the “trolls” came from but it paralleled a claim by freelance journalist Adam Chen who asserted in a podcast with Longform that Russian “trolls” began writing favorably about Trump in late 2015. (The CIA/FBI/NSA report also apparently alluded to the same report without mentioning the name of the journalist or specifying the number of alleged “trolls.”)
“I created this list of Russian trolls when I was researching,” Chen said, referring to a 2015 reporting project that he turned into a rather thinly sourced New York Times Magazine article accusing a Russian oligarch of funding a professional “troll” operation in St. Petersburg, Russia. “I check on it once in a while, still. And a lot of them have turned into conservative accounts, like fake conservatives. I don’t know what’s going on, but they’re all tweeting about Donald Trump and stuff.”
Although such “troll” and “hacking” complaints are treated as a one-way street – coming only from the evil Russians – the reality is that U.S. intelligence agencies, their allies and U.S.-government-funded “non-governmental organizations” have mounted similar operations against Russia and other targets.
It is always difficult to nail down precisely where such operations are originating, but the Russians have cited previous cases of malicious hacking aimed at senior officials, including Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, whose accounts were hacked in 2013 and 2014 including publication of a false resignation and a confession of wrongdoing.
In 2015, the “Panama Papers,” a vast trove of documents purloined from a Panamanian law firm, became an investigative project that involved a USAID-funded news outlet and led to attacks on President Vladimir Putin for corruption even though his name did not appear in the documents.
So, this high-tech spy-vs.-spy game – if that’s what it is – does not appear to be originating entirely from the Russian side of the street. But the U.S. intelligence community is not going to divulge what it knows about the attacks against Russia, only what it can “assess” about Russia’s possible attacks against Western targets.
No Self-Criticism
Neither, of course, are Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party eager to engage in a serious self-criticism about how they managed to blow an extremely winnable race against an extraordinarily flawed candidate in Donald Trump. Rather than look at their own missteps and misjudgments, they are presenting themselves as innocent victims.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a meeting room at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, at the outset of a bilateral meeting on July 14, 2016. [State Department Photo]
“How did they know what messages to deliver?” Clinton asked. “Who told them? Who were they coordinating with, or colluding with? … [The Russians] were conveying this weaponized information and the content of it. … So the Russians — in my opinion and based on the intel and the counterintel people I’ve talked to — could not have known how best to weaponize that information unless they had been guided. … Guided by Americans and guided by people who had polling and data information.”
Although Clinton lacked any proof of this convoluted accusation, she cited as her “best example” the fact that “within one hour, one hour of the ‘Access Hollywood’ tapes being leaked [in which Trump was caught boasting about groping women], within one hour, the Russians — let’s say WikiLeaks, something — dumped the John Podesta emails.”
However, if you changed the context of this claim slightly – and made a similar jump in logic – you would surely be labeled a nutty conspiracy theorist, but instead Clinton has drawn nods of agreement for this wholly unsubstantiated speculation.
Yet, besides blaming the Russians and WikiLeaks for her loss, Clinton spread the blame even wider, for instance, to The New York Times for focusing too much on her decision to use a private email server while Secretary of State – “they covered it like it was Pearl Harbor” – and for the Times’ Nate Silver publishing optimistic odds on her chances for victory. “I also think I was the victim of a very broad assumption I was going to win,” she said.
Clinton also placed blame on the Democratic National Committee for lacking money and sophisticated technology. “I get the nomination. So I’m now the nominee of the Democratic Party. I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party,” she said. “I mean it was bankrupt; it was on the verge of insolvency; its data was mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong. I had to inject money into it.”
Yet, when Clinton was asked about some of her own “misjudgments,” she slipped back into the defensive posture that contributed to her troubles as a presidential candidate. For instance, regarding why she gave lucrative speeches to Goldman Sachs between her time leaving the State Department and announcing her White House run, she answered coyly, “They paid me.”
When pressed on the point, Clinton retreated behind the sanctity of the 9/11 terror attack and the issue of women’s rights. Reminded that “you’re not somebody who needed that money for the next week’s shopping, and you knew you might run, so why do it?” – she responded:
“The most common thing that I talked about in all those speeches was the hunt for Bin Laden. You know, that was one of the central missions that I felt from the time the towers fell on 9/11 as a Senator from New York.”
Then, Clinton added, “you know, men got paid for the speeches they made. I got paid for the speeches I made. And it [the paid-speech issue] was used, and I thought it was unfairly used.”
Blocking Witnesses
So, while the Democrats dig themselves deeper into the so-far empty pit of blaming Russia for their electoral disaster, the Russia-gate investigation continues to take on other curious aspects, such as an unwillingness to hear from some of Donald Trump’s advisers who have been named in accusations and who have volunteered to testify publicly.
Former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page.
On Wednesday, Carter Page, a Navy veteran and businessman who had lived in Russia, announced that his plans to defend himself in testimony next week before the House Intelligence Committee had been placed on hold by the Democrats.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee and a major sparkplug powering the investigation, offered a curious denial of Page’s complaint while confirming the truth of it.
The New York Times, which has been another advocate for blaming Russia, phrased the postponement of Page’s testimony as if Page were the unreasonable one, reporting:
“Representative Adam Schiff … dismissed accusations from Carter Page, another Trump adviser who is under scrutiny, that the committee is preventing him from testifying. Mr. Schiff …. said the investigation would first review relevant documents before interviewing witnesses.”
In other words, Page, who has been portrayed via intelligence leaks to the news media as essentially a traitor, won’t be given the opportunity to defend his reputation until Schiff and the other Democrats decide the time is ripe.
Yet, it’s not as if the House Intelligence Committee has not taken public testimony about Russia-gate. For instance, former CIA Director Brennan was allowed to speak indirectly about Page and other possibly treasonous Americans amid media reports naming Page as one of those suspected Russian “agents.”
Normal investigations grant the people under attack at least the opportunity to defend themselves and their reputations in a timely fashion, rather than make them live under the cloud of suspicion without having a chance to state their case.
If their sworn testimony is later undermined by evidence developed by investigators, the witnesses can be called back and called out on possible perjury. So, it’s not as if Schiff and the other Democrats are surrendering prerogatives by letting Page testify now rather than later. Indeed, Page would be putting himself in legal jeopardy if he is caught lying.
Even the Republican-driven “Benghazi investigation,” which also had the look of an over-the-top “witch hunt,” gave Secretary of State Clinton and other Obama administration officials multiple opportunities to explain their response to the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate.
But, so far, a similar courtesy has not been extended to the targets of the Russia-gate investigation.
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).
Best policy is failure is not an option. Operate based being tough and competent.
He [Demas] made attacks upon the rich, but was good to the poor…And he set his hand to robbing the multitude of the Jews, and stole the law itself in Jerusalem, … And to Caiaphas and the multitude of the Jews it was not a Passover, but it was a great mourning to them, on account of the plundering of the sanctuary by the robber … Judas says to the Jews: Come, let us hold a council; for perhaps it was not the robber that stole the law, but Jesus himself, and I accuse him.
Blame it on Rio and steal like The Saint. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saint_to_the_Rescue
It’s all for Hope and the kids. If you don’t know how to steal you’ll have trouble with the law. They’re busting the law and setting the Russians up in Washington DC. This ends bad. It’s always bad for us.
The biggest loser of all time. Had every advantage, name recognition, high-level job appointments where she did nothing but work on her foundation, lied every time she opened her mouth, endangered and deleted our classified secrets, was protected by the president and his attorney general, blew $1.2 billion on her terrible campaign (twice that of her opponent), cheated her primary opponent, blamed her political party that lied and cheated for her! And now blames everyone else for her loss! Pathetic loser!
Thank you for your work. After reading the book ” dark money” and watching Greg palace work on best democracy can buy. I believe if a true investigation in to the last election would blow up the congress because they would have to look at themselves and the money they take to buy votes and the k street. So let’s blame someone else. I do not like trump either but they are not investigating him what he is already so shown. He is using the office of the president to make money. The religious right has taken office to which has been well documented many writers on this subject. They do need to look into his taxes and release them he is hiding things from the public.
The whole trouble is the trouble.
Blame it on Rio. My OCB guy claims that the White House wants to silence the lambs along with the Post. Trump has a fleece deal that’s white as snow in Miami. The Miami Mice are on the case. Don’t blame the pussy for your trouble.
So this despicable woman is lying yet again. Does she ever not lie?
Bill and Hillary Clinton are the most shameless human species on planet earth! I just wish the two can disappear and stop doing more damage to so many people, like those they and their friends did in Haiti, Rwanda, Libya, Syria and Ukraine (to name only a few).
If I never hear the expression “all 17 intelligence agencies” again I will be a happier man. Getting 17 Republicans or Democrats to agree on something is next to impossible. 17 intelligence agencies might agree on who they work for but after that, it is all best guess assessments on what is in another man or woman’s heart and we haven’t perfected that technology yet. When a politician starts talking about 17 intelligence agencies I just tune out because there is nothing that isn’t classified that would interest me and that is where the real truth lies, or does not lie, as the case may be. What is frustrating is I know there are good men and women working in those agencies who could inform us without jeopardizing our national security and yet they don’t. That would mean they were actually sharing power, because knowledge is power and sir Bacon taught us hundreds of years ago that man is wont to share anything, especially power. What is frightening is “the news fit to print” , which all 6 or 7 media outlets that control what we see and read limit what we see and read and that has come to mean the truth as often as not. We are reading censored news that is being disseminated with an agenda in mind and it doesn’t include what is in your or my best interest. It is based on what is most profitable for that outlet, not on reality. Hillary’s diatribe against Russia is just another example of that managed news we are being force fed by the 6 or 7 outlets that manage what news we see and read. And limiting what we see limits our responses and that keeps them in the control of the same people spreading that news. It is truly a vicious circle for voters. We never end up seeing the whole picture, just that part they want us to see and that is how they manage us. That is not a functioning Democracy.
The real cause of Clnton’s defeat was her total lack of scruples in the primary phase of the 2016 election, specifically her organization’s behavior toward her opponent, Senator Sanders, and his supporters. Her organization, to be clear, also included the DNC, and this fact alienated thousands if not millions of progressive Democrats and independent voters. How many potential Clinton voters were lost in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania? Apparently enough to put Donald Trump at the helm, a nightmarish situation that can be placed squarely on the shoulders of Ms. Clinton and the choices she made as the self-appointed leader of her party. Then again, one has to ask, if Ms. Clinton was so willing to tolerate the corruption of and collusion with the DNC, and is now so adverse to an honest assessment of her loss, and obviously disinterested in changing the Democratic Party’s strategy for avoiding such future losses, then what kind of leader would she have been? Certainly the bar is very low with Donald Trump in the White House, but does our nation also deserve such an ethically challenged figure as Ms. Clinton? We are a flawed nation but we deserve much better than a leader who is consistently inclined toward deception and self pity.
And I have “high confidence” that HRC is full of it. She has no one to blame but herself for losing the election and inflicting us with Trump, but she is incapable of admitting it. Instead, we have her back on the campaign trail whining about Russia and blaming the DNC, Comey, anyone and everyone but herself. She needs to crawl back into her hole and ask herself some hard questions. In fact, the entire Democratic party needs to ask itself the same questions. Otherwise, 2018 and 2020 will not be the shoo-in they are hoping for. I watched the much-maligned RT station during the campaign/election, and I did not see any “fake news” or propaganda that would make me vote one way or another. Knowing what I did about Clinton, I would never have voted for her anyway, and I sure wasn’t going to vote for Trump. I voted for Stein because I’m sick of being given a choice of the lesser of two evils – Obama taught me that lesson.
You’d think that after 5 months of looking in the mirror Hillary would know for sure why she lost and really never had a chance!! There has never been a more despicable candidate in a race for the President!She can and does lie to the public but I don’t see how she can lie to herself and believe what she says and not be a candidate for a mental institute!! Maybe this is all a ploy to stay out of the cold prison and get into a cozy mental institution!
I think this lifelong Democrat summed it all up very well on Face The Nation – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K9NCEZ52IxY.
I think it is the African American wing of the Democratic party system that is keeping this grotesque ship from sinking! The shameless,lying pirates on board are determined to hang on by any means necessary!
Since signing on for “better or worst” giving up her Papa’s name Rodham in favor of becoming and staying with Mrs. Clinton, Mrs. Clinton could hold herself out as a poster woman for, dishonesty, lack of integrity and trust as has become the fashion with her running mate on the opposite side of the fake political divide, as the right hand, Mr. Trump offering as Twiddle Dee to Mrs. Clinton, as Twiddle Dum. with both owned and licensed by the same puppet masters showing a screening of the theater of the absurd for United States voters in the past POTUS election last November.
Rather delighted that both Al Franken and Vladmir Putin brusquely said the woman needs to get over it … and that the DNC staffers she most recently blamed for losing her the election, responded with unequivocal anger and mockery … My god how everyone’s been trained in the “poor little Hillary, can’t catch a break” bullshit… I’m vaguely curious about the Foundation and just how badly it’s imploding … it “might” have been her post-election bully pulpit with Bill and Hill playing host to the elites … those Podesta documents really stripped the shiny finish … just remember too that Bill Clinton says he told Hillary she was making a mistake by ignoring the working class/middle American heartland …
oh, and Macron (like Merkel) threw their own “cold water” on the woman
https://apnews.com/amp/fc570e4b400f4c7db3b0d739e9dc5d4d
Shortly after the Election Merkel said it was annoying when other countries tried to influence voters, but such is life (irrc)
Mr. Parry, as always, dishes out another major truth trip. Among other important points, he addresses the very, very disturbing fact that “Politifact” concurs with Killary’s breathless assertion that all 17 intell agencies concluded that the Kremlin hacked the election.
I remember when this Politifact outfit started up several years ago and I remember thinking how soon it would be before it became politicised and biased itself. After all, it’s a creature of a certain wing of the oligarchic establishment. But still, how dismaying, pathetic, infuriating and predictable that Politifact is validating to millions the idiotic notion that Moscow deliberately hacked the election process to hand it to Trump.
Oh Politifact, your shilling for Killary and fomenting of Russophobia would be laughable if these acts weren’t so damn dangerous.
This article could have been reduced to one sentence. “Please go away, Hilary”. Maybe, as a rejoiner..”.Now! you have nothing to add to this situation “.
Other than that….everything looks in order. It’s not Schiff’s job ( and he’s only a member…not the chairman. That goes to some GOP lacky, right?) to coddle Carter Page. They will proceed when they have their case and line of questioning solidified. And damn straight..he lies and he’s in jeopardy. That’s how it goes.
What a stupid thing for a “journalist” to say
“But, so far, a similar courtesy has not been extended to the targets of the Russia-gate investigation.” After equating this situation with the Bengazi “investigation”. ..like, the subjects there were given “consideration”? Do you even remember Clinton’s testimony? She tore those idiots a new asshole without even trying hard. That’s how one DOESN’T do an “investigation”.
More and more, I see your writings as ramblings of a frustrated old man. Sound familiar? Maybe you should get a Twitter account, Parry?
Stiv – you start slandering someone, making accusations with absolutely no evidence, then you sure as hell better give the guy a timely hearing. Put up or shut up, don’t string things out pretending you’re actually doing something. Undue delay casts a shadow over someone’s life. That little weasel, Schiff, will get his some day. A paranoid little boy.
“Maybe you should get a Twitter account, Parry.” And maybe you should get a brain.
Hillary is losing her marbles. Her anti-Russian shtik gets more and more elaborate with every rant. Each time I hear/read it, the image in my mind of Bill bundling her off-stage and into some nice quiet exclusive elderly care home becomes clearer.
It’s too bad about poor ol’ Hill. She once had real promise.
The first, and most deadly mistake the Democratic party made was in nominating Hillary as their
candidate for president.
From then on, the mistakes were hers.
Now, can the Clintons just go quietly away and leave us alone.
I don’t t think it matters who becomes President or what party. The same Mega-rich corporate interests take charge.
It has been said that Americans are the sons and duaghters of alcoholics. Meaning, of course, that they engage in avoidance and denial all the time.
This woman is no different. History will remember her as a failed, hubristic person, not just poor candidate.
As to the corporate demos, they may go the way of the Whigs. There is no changing this party from within. Don’t bother trying. The ‘party’ is so laden with corporate ghosts, so bought and paid for by the corporate interests that any hope from them is truly a ‘pipe dream’.
No, the time now, if it is not too late, is to organize for socialism. Until this happens, unfortunately we will have only socialism for the rich.
I would hope the Democrats go the way of the Whigs and a new, more progressive party becomes the other 2nd party.
But it’s important to know the Republicans didn’t grow from a third party while the Whigs faded away. We can’t expect one of our third parties- most likely the Greens in this scenario- could grow to major status while the Democrats fade away to irrelevancy.
What happened was that the Whigs imploded and major politicians, including those serving in office having been elected as Whigs, deserted it and formed the new party along with some free soil Democrats who gave up on their party. The Republicans never really were a third party.
So for this scenario we would need lots of Democratic politicians, especially elected ones, who are progressive leaving the party.
I just don’t see this happening. Maybe the only hope for this is a major defeat in 2018?
We all engage in ‘avoidance and denial’. All the time.
Exhibit A : the righteous condemnation of Trump ‘pulling out’ of the Paris Accords.
From all sorts of people of all persuasions. Usually framed in the context of, ‘But
he’s just destroyed the world for our children !’
Maybe. But how I wish just a little bit of that angst could be redirected to the even
more immediate and much worse imho threat of Nuclear Winter. Much of the hue
and cry over the Climate Crisis seems to me to be misdirected despair over the
nuclear issue, which is by now buried deep in our collective subconscious.
or even just the imminent destruction of life as we know it in Yemen and the utter catastrophe we’ve spent 15 years visiting on Afghanistan, where the population is still hungry, illiterate, unvaccinated and most still without electricity …. it’s criminal
There’s a boatload of Clinton Foundation money that hasn’t been accounted for, especially the money that was collected for Haiti. If anyone has the guts to follow this money trail, it would lead somewhere quite interesting indeed. Lying about what the intelligence services said is nothing compared to other things this woman and her family foundation have been involved in.
Yes.
If the scrutiny that’s been put on Trump and his people on dealing with Russia had been put on Clinton and her people this entire time on dealing with Israel, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and who knows else, she’d be in prison by now.
The Establishment (TE) must be loving this: Trump caught up in relentless Russia-connection allegations through MSM and investigations (to keep him in line or unseat him) and Hillary blathering on and on. (There’s no logical reason for her to let go as long as Trump is under fire like that. She doesn’t want to admit that’s all a hoax; she’s in denial.)
All this keeps the focus off TE in their effort to dominate the world. We might dedicate ourselves to seeing behind the scenes to the real motives and acts, and that might show that both Hillary and Trump are victims. As are we all, but I hope not.
Just curious, for how long people will continue wasting time on this stuff??!!………Any rational person knows that elections are a circus to keep the masses fooled thinking that they have a say. The “elite” design, run, and maintain the system………different “actors” come and go to play the same roles assigned to them by the “elite”. I suggest that rational people start talking and coming together to do something to fix the “system itself”………Where to start?! Start by the source of almost everything “The BANKING System”…………..Controlled Opposition is no opposition but just part of the game. As to “abortion” and “what have you”, PLEASE, it is only part of splitting people so it becomes easier to “conquer” them…………………….As individuals, we can all start by becoming “minimalists”……..Just look at how fat Americans are and they all talk about “Healthcare Costs”!!! For God Sake, stop gorging yourself with the “sh-tty food and drinks” you consume and just walk as much as possible in nature and your weight and healthcare cost will both come down quite a bit……………….
I learned recently that Doritos and perhaps some other “sh-ty food and drinks” have an ingredient that signals your brain to keep eating, even when you are full.
“Clinton suggested that the Trump campaign must have colluded with the Russians in “weaponizing” the data.”
This absurd statement suggests to me that Secretary Clinton’s perceptions emanate from paranoia. Any idiot can read through the wikileaks documents – this idiot did (moi) – by using the search bar, quickly ignoring the duplications and meaningless chatter and find the Wall Street speech where she said she was “out of touch” with average people [THAT SURE EXPLAINED A LOT TO ME ABOUT HER PUBLIC SPEECHES AND DETACHED DELIVERY OF THOSE SPEECHES]. Spend another few minutes and learn about the DNC’s thumb on the scale for Clinton which violated the charter of the DNC party [THAT SURE FIT WHAT WE WERE SEEING ON THE GROUND IN NEVADA, CALIFORNIA, SOUTHERN STATES]. The leaks filled in the picture and confirmed it. We didn;t need anyone to “weaponize” the leaks because our “deplorable” brains were too weak to figure this all out…
Given that Clinton is trying to blame Russia for her loss instead of her own failings and that most polls showed that Bernie Sanders would have beaten Trump handily and that Sanders is the top polling politician in this country, it’s interesting that he has not been embittered by what TPTB in the Democratic Party did to themselves by rejecting their best candidate.
Instead of bellyaching, Bernie has picked himself up and taken his fight for working people at home and around the globe on his book tour. Below is a link to his game changing speech in Brighton England
The speech was remarkable in that Bernie educated the audience on America instead of the normal political sugar coating or sweeping critical issues under the rug. It was an expose of life in America for struggling working people, crumbling infrastructure, huuuge wealth inequality and the rest. He then linked the American worker experience with the worldwide punishing reality that globalization due to anti labor policies has produced massive wealth inequality and massive tax avoidance schemes.
During the Q&A he was asked the third party question and he said that, given the immediate existential threat of climate change that has to be dealt with now, he believes that for us to solve that crisis plus all the issues facing working people, poor people, disenfranchised people, there is not the luxury of time to build a third party but instead the Democratic Party must be changed from within by concerned citizens who run for office and persuade their fellow Democrats that change is necessary.
The full speech and Q&A can be seen here:
http://theprogressivewing.com/62-news-roundup-bernie-in-brighton-trumps-stupid-climate-decision-more/#comments
Bernie is now the top-polling politician in Europe too. (Maybe just American politician. I see a worthy top-polling politician in Macron. We want Macron! We want Bernie!
I am so impressed by Macron’s courage and sharp intellect to make a quick analysis of what’s going on and act on it.
e.g. in his last debate vs Le Pen she was a pretty aggressive no holds barred debater. Macron shut her down with something to the effect – you madam are using fear mongering to distract the voters.
and when he shook hands with the bully Trump, he faced him down with the controlled firm grip – not letting Trump get his hand back and smiling made eye contact with the message like – no, monsieur you will NOT push us around and get concessions on issues of critical importance like climate change.
and then following through with Merkel, rejecting Trumps call for a redo of the Paris accord and going directly to the U.S. individual states and corporations.
wow!
Evelyn, I think you and Olivia need to take a closer look at Macron. He is a ghost, a hologram, produced by the ultra-elite political class-big money-MSM globalist cabal that has ruled what is left of France for decades. His one piece of legislation he tried to get passed as a Minister had the people out in the streets against it. This is a man who says “There is no such thing as French culture”. (Great qualification for a President). A Rothschild banker who could not do a simple spreadsheet analysis -he was known around the office as “Mr. Thank You” as he was constantly asking for help and explanations of the simplest banking terms. He was put there to keep the EU-at-all-costs-screw-the-people -and-democracy program running. His big political idea was “Think Spring”. Butterflies and rainbows. Advertising images (of which he is one) rather than an agenda. (And please, ignore the unemployment figures.). “I will save you from that EVIL Le Pen woman!!!” She carried and could not overcome the heavy baggage of the family and Party names, but if you actually looked at the policies she put forward, many (not all, but many) were actually to the left of the so called Socialists. But when you have every cover of every newspaper and magazine with a picture of the Golden Boy on it, and the entire old money political machine set against you, yor chances are slim.
The globalists won. And remember, it was Bill Clinton who said years ago “Globalization is about one thing and one thing only: cheap labor.” We are to be slaves who will be quiet and watch our media presentations. If you think Macron is some kind of strong character because of a firm handshake then you don’t understand how easy it is to bully a bully. Especially when surrounded by your own friends.
Here’s a link to some interesting excerpts from the class-action lawsuit against the DNC hearing (petition to dismiss).
The judge has definitely been in the game for a long time (since 1985 !).
https://medium.com/@zachhaller/7-jaw-dropping-revelations-from-hearings-on-the-motion-to-dismiss-the-dnc-fraud-lawsuit-bee1723b713f
We bought some numbers at the hardware store to fix our ‘Bernie 2016’ bumper sticker. A ‘2’ and a ‘0’ turned it into ‘2020’.
The issues Bernie Sanders raised are not new. These issues had been discussed in the progressive media outlets like this one for more than three decades now. I appreciate his bringing these issues of inequality, and Health Care to the fore during the debates. However, in many ways, Bernie Sanders is part of the Democratic Party Establishment. During the campaign, and before, he never raised the issue of the money being spent on Defense and all these Intelligence Agencies, which is more than trillion dollars a year. Nor did he emphatically raise the issue of all these Wars, death, and destruction we are inflicting on Earth. Even Trump was more vocal on some of that.
Bernie can not build his Socialism, with the Foreign Policy we have. Democratic Party kind of built him up, and allowed him to be a kind of weak rival to Hillary to show we have a democratic process. But it did not work for the Democratic Party. And Bernie joined the Hillary bandwagon right away. For us, who voted for him in the primary, it was a betrayal by Bernie.
And now, it seems like, Bernie is also on this Russia bashing bandwagon. And also, I agree with what John Pilger said in one of his interviews on ” Going Underground” after the 2016 Election, that Bernie had no chance of winning. Either he would have moved to the middle, or the Establishment (both Democrats and Republicans) who runs the country would have destroyed him just like that.
The progressives have to forget about Bernie and move on.
I was a Bernie supporter during the primaries, and I believe he is dead wrong about having no time to build a third party. He probably doesn’t have the power to do it now that he has lost the confidence of so many people, but back when the DNC leaks came out, instead of caving at the convention, he could have delivered an ultimatum, “Give me the Democratic nomination or I will take my supporters to the Green Party and run with Jill Stein”. He could have rode that wave through the nationally televised debates, and right into the White House. He blew it big time, and I will never forgive him. I’m hoping for Tulsi Gabbard now.
The whole thing is fly food. That is to say S***, if Russia had wanted to influence merica’s election they would have just started a super pac and done it the way Israel does.
Hillary is acting as Hillary does, and offending in doing it. However, she’s getting away with this for the same reason she got away with so much during the campaign — it serves those who put her up as the candidate, the donors and Party insiders, the elite from whom she took money, for whom she was the face. They need to remain in control, and keep the donor money flowing, and Hillary’s excuses serve those “larger” purposes. That it is preposterous lies is unimportant. Much of what passes for public discourse on all sides is just preposterous lies anyway.
agree — good points — I’ve noticed that no one is mentioning the (admitted to) army of paid Clinton “supporters” unleashed on the internets and never, as far as I seen reported, ‘demobilized’ (and IMHO, probably still active frequenting places like Salon to create a “safe harbor” for the Clinton faithful.
Inquiring minds want to know which deep-pocket Clinton supporters paid for the second-half of the Steele document and what was contained in the first-half and who (Republican donors) paid for it …. y’know while we’re talking about “meddling” … Who else is fielding “teams” or “armies” of internet trolls (paid or not) armed with talking points? I recall the Obama campaign (versus Clinton) was the first obvious large-scale use of “social media” to demonize a candidate ….
Clinton is still pissed that a big-deal was made about her persistent cough (which she stubbornly refused to address at the time) which then became pneumonia … but I’ve noticed she makes no mention of the often repeated reports that she has/had Parkinsons. Reminiscent of her concussion, that she persistently minimized until using it as an excuse for her memory lapses wrt the server.
Yes, the press is hand-in-glove. The furor over the Libyan connection to Manchester — and the blessings given in early days of local muslims traveling to Libya to fight the “enemy” seems to be fading…
How many pointless “why do they join Jihad?” articles have you read? how many books? Shock at naked Trump’s declaration of solidarity with the Sunni Moslem world has already passed? Of course those folks claiming “we support ISIS” absolutely must be considered “ridiculous” …
I have read that after 09/11 Bush/Cheney were terrified of being blamed for America being caught with its figurative pants down … that these 16 individuals lived and traveled about “freely” for however long prior to their zero-hour when their genuinely brilliantly simple plan was put into action … So, Al-Qaeda became an enormous international terrorist network (which did manage to accomplish very small strikes in Morocco, Bali and Turkey before they were largely swept up by international anti-terrorist police actions) … Even the Madrid bombings in 2004 was a relatively simple matter of a few explosive carrying backpacks and carefully (IIRC) timed detonation, the work of a quite local quite small cell of jihadists. But no mind…
So, after the Trump election we have the press declaring a new vigor, a renaissance … after they failed to tell us so very much about Mr. Trump … After they “laughed all the way to the back” with their new sure-fire headline generating savior …
And Clinton who not only failed to win … but whose support of Trump as a “serious candidate” help overcome conservative republican “you must be kidding” disbelief. Clinton thought she would run against a candidate even more unpopular, ever more tarnished than herself … she continues to demonstrate that same sort of “tactical brilliance” that had her running — as more qualified candidate “ever” – against that “bad man” and his basket of deplorable supporters. Today she’s blaming the racism and anger of the Trump campaign for the Portland stabbings … which is a break from declaring herself the stronger feminist candidate who is also the perpetual victim of more “bad men” …
I’d like to think that she and her team are deliberately emulating Bush/Cheney in deliberately, self-servingly deflecting blame for 2016 from herself onto Trump, stupid voters, stupid staff, bad polls… but I think the underlying transparent whiny blame-shifting is entering into “thou dos’t protest too much” fishwife territory … particularly since she apparently holds no brilliant plan to unite the party and (y’know) move foreward, in her other hand. She’s digging a hole for herself and the party. Biden’s rather premature hat-throwing into ring for 2020 merely solidifies the pathetic nostalgia of denial of wudda, cudda, shoulda
So, I am curious why Mr. Perry did not also bring up the army of paid Hillary trolls that flooded social media with fake stories about her opponents. Why weren’t they effective against the Russian trolls? I’d think they would have been able to give as good as they got. I’d also like to know why this free trolling was somehow more effective than Clinton’s 5-1 spending spree. (She spent 5x what Trump did on advertising) . Frankly, her message of “I’m better than Trump” wasn’t all that great, considering that untreated swine flu, or ebola is better than Trump.
What I want to know is where those alleged 17 government agencies were when the hacking was actually taking place. Why were they sitting on their backsides doing nothing? What are we paying them for? Why is it that months after the fact, they suddenly come to the realization that the hacking took place?
What I want to know is where those alleged 17 government agencies were when the hacking was actually taking place.
This is one of the simpler but more cogent observations made on the topic.
Yes, a very simple yet powerful point. The 17 (really 3) didn’t say anything because there wasn’t any real threat. This strongly implies that russia-gate is no more than a desperate effort to undo the election, or at least force the new administration to follow orders.
Yeah, does smell kinda funny, doesn’t it. Could it be that the whole thing is made up? Also don’t forget the vault 7 releases that show they can fake point of origin, so there’s no real way to know who is playing puppet master. And the writer of the NSA code that scoops up everything, William Binney, says they would have known in real time if any hacking had occurred. Who do we believe- him, or Hillary and the MSM?
The cherry on top of this excellent recap by Robert Parry would have been a lead in of how much that cronied-up parasitic hack mediocrity was paid by the Code 2017 conference to just show up and gas-bag her vacuous complaints. Haggard washed up Hillary (and her doddering sociopathic husband) add exactly what to any conversation?
P.S. that the big cheeses that organized the Code 2017 Conference actually deigned to shovel Hillary a fat appearance fee indicates just how politically screwed up the Left Coast actually is.
There are several reasons Hillary lost, but I believe the most important one is that the election was not fought on a level playing field. The US Presidential election lacks voter equality; Some votes count more than others. Thus, the most vilified woman in human history received almost 3,000,000 more votes than Donald Trump. She got about 48% of the popular vote which is 5% more than her husband received in 1992 in his electoral college landslide. Her problem was a disproportionate number of her votes came from states with large minority populations, such as California which has one third of all of minorities in the country. The electoral college favors Wyoming type states which are about 90% white. If all presidential votes counted equally our far right candidate Donald Trump would’ve been defeated just as the French and Dutch far right candidates were defeated.
If the US had voter equality, Bush 43 and Donald Trump could not have ever moved into the White House.
So, we should give California more votes, even though it has the majority of votes already? Or we should cut the votes of states that already have the bare minimum? As the Clinton supporters told the Bernie supporters after the primary ” Maybe your candidate should learn the rules next time”
No state should have any vote; only individuals should have votes. We should have a government of the people, by the people, for the people; not a government of the states, by the states, and for the states.
In the election 2000, W. Bush received 147,000 votes in Wyoming and that gave him three electors. He got about 5 million votes in California and that gave him zero electors. The value of a vote depends on three things 1, location 2. location 3. location. This fact generates enormous apathy; tens of millions do not find it worth their time to vote because I know it doesn’t matter.
I think a much larger perversion of our democracy is the utterly corrupt 2 party system that gave us a choice between His Royal Orangeness and the Queen of Chaos. I agree that we should eliminate the electoral college, but we should also open debates to 3rd party candidates, ensure that the primary process isn’t rigged, and have run-off elections. And of course we need to get money out of the process by disallowing paid advertisement and having the major networks host speeches and debates in fulfillment of their “public interest” responsibilities.
Rick Jones wrote, “Her problem was a disproportionate number of her votes came from states with large minority populations, such as California which has one third of all of minorities in the country. The electoral college favors Wyoming type states which are about 90% white. If all presidential votes counted equally our far right candidate Donald Trump would’ve been defeated just as the French and Dutch far right candidates were defeated.”
You can’t really say that.
You see Trump’s campaign was based on an electoral college strategy as was Clinton’s and it was that campaign that she lost.
Now if we had a direct popular vote system, then you can’t expect either campaign would have done the same thing nor can you expect that the popular vote outcome would have been what it was in this one.
It’s like saying if the Poker game I just lost was Blackjack then I would have won.
Of course the outcome of last fall’s election cannot be changed. But going forward I would like to see the nation adopted system that comports with its highest ideals. I have always voted, but I cannot get many friends and neighbors to vote because we live in Utah and know the outcome of Utah’s electors well before the election. Virtually none of the candidates that I vote for have ever won, but in the state elections at least I know my vote counts the same as every other participant. That is not so in the presidential election; I always feel cheated and taken advantage of by a system that elevates state power over the individual.
Lincoln said this nation was dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. The obvious corollary to that proposition Is that in a specific election all votes should count equally. I hold the truth of that corollary to be self-evident.
Indeed the playing field was not level. If you take away the votes in California’s sanctuary cities and counties Trump would have won the popular vote. He already had the total popular vote in the other 49 states.
I believe voter equality is essential to have representative government. As Alexander Hamilton argued in Federalist paper number 22 “the fundamental maxim of republican government requires that the sense of the majority should prevail.” If voter equality existed I could accept a Donald Trump presidency much easier, just as I accept my far right Republican Governor and legislature.
I believe that were it not for the apathy generating electoral college Trump would’ve done much worse. As it was he got neither the percent nor absolute numbers that Romney received. He was a terrible candidate. How did he receive almost 3,000,000 fewer votes than the most vilified woman in human history? Donald Trump “choked” when it came to connecting with the American voters.
Wikileaks had announced the release of the documents months in advance, to people with brain cells it seems more likely the Clinton campaign coordinated the release of the Trump audio to coincide with the Wikileaks dump. She really thinks the DNC did nothing for her even though they nominated her after she lost the nomination to Bernie Sanders during the primary and again at the convention when her delegates didn’t show up for roll call, they also funneled money from 33 states they swindled directly to the Shillary victory fund, that was more than enough. The fact that she still thinks Russia had something to do with Seth Rich giving those emails to Wikileaks shows the extent of her delusions. Playing the victim of her own crimes wouldn’t have worked any better if she had a penis in spite of her delusions that opposition to corrupt liars is exclusively about gender.
Josh – “Wikileaks had announced the release of the documents months in advance, to people with brain cells it seems more likely the Clinton campaign coordinated the release of the Trump audio to coincide with the Wikileaks dump.” I agree with you.
i am GREATLY interested in chen’s ‘list’ of ‘known russkie trolls’, for a number of reasons… first, i bet it is bullshit; second, i would wager the bar for being ‘russkie trolls’ is so low as to include all rethugnacans; third*, i want TO SEE the bullshit ‘bot posts’ (really ? do they have any tech-savvy people to clue them in ? oh, rich ? okay then…) so as to find out what THEY SAY is so overwhelmingly persuasive that many/most/all stooooopid dem’rats/etc were fooled by it such as to stagger zombie-like to vote for t-rump… yeah, i would REALLY like to see those posts…
(*fourth, i am curious to find out if i am on the list, and disappointed if i am not…)
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further, just WHAT ‘fake news’ are these army of botz posting that is so fakey, so falsey, so damaging, yet people still swallow it without batting an eyelash ? ? ? again, don’t believe that on the face of it, regardless of whether it actually occurred or not…
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i would mention two factoids in relation to this: NOT THAT IT MATTERED ANYWAY, but i was personally shocked to find out that ‘our’ (sic) kongresskritters had done away with pesky thou shalt not propagandize the amerikan sheeple laws, i presume from a midnight-rider type backroom deal on a bill in 2013… odd i don’t recall the media making such a big deal about that…
second factoid is that our MILITARY HAS BOUGHT software which allows one quisling to post as if they are a thousand quislings among (anti)social media on the inertnet tubes… (*sniff*sniff* is that ass unstein ? ? ?)
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IF we actually had a functioning small-dee democracy, she SHOULD have been shitcanned/jailed for her email stunt alone…
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that she dismisses the ‘paid speech’ ‘issue’ as unfair, tells you all you need to know about her cluelessness… entitled bitch, foad…
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also, fred g sanford makes a great point: obama’s goons are surveilling t-rump, so why didn’t they catch on that he was in the russkies employ ? ? ? yeah, bullshit all around…
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lastly, that she feels she can continue to feed the false narrative as you describe (“17 agencies, blah blah blah…”), tells me she is doubling down on Empire clamping down on dissent and enforcing draconian controls on allowable ‘news’/media reports… she thinks she doesn’t have to worry about her lies and deceit, because The They have control of the korporate media, control of the narrative… soon, all those pesky citizen journos, bloggers, and unwitting dupes of russkie leet haxxors will be shut up so only Empire’s pre-digested mindworms are allowed…
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unfortunately, she might be right about that…
We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars each year with seventeen intelligent agencies engaged in this dirty business. And we have armies of privately hired hackers by PACs and other such organizations to spread false information and destabilize the governments all over the World who do not submit to our dictates. Add to it the intelligence agencies of the Western Europe.
And we are blaming the Russians! And Hillary Clinton is making speeches on that all over the country. Such behavior is very close to be classified as a case of Insanity. World out there should watch out !
art guerrilla – great post! Thanks.
Psychology clearly shows that mentally ill persons can be highly functioning individuals and can accomplish a lot (my undergrad is psych), and I have thought for some time that Clinton is psychopathic from reading about her in various publications. Coming out with “1000 Russian agents”? A figure snatched out of thin air….and her other “arguments” are equally suggestive of a delusional mind dwelling, and really dwelling, on this loss which she cannot, will not, accept, nearly consumed by her loss and having to blame anyone for it but herself.
I hope Hillary is hurting at least half as much as all the people she has killed and injured in her mad career in “government.” Who says a madwoman can’t cause as much or more harm as a madman?
There is another side to this story too.
With the ‘Buckley vs. Valeo’ decision of 1976, the Democrats didn’t care (..in fact, they were a part of bringing it on, and they absolutely loved bathing in it for 40 years..). .. Lock out the Third Parties. “Screw” any grassroots organizing (.. they are just rabble..). … Lie to the Constituents. … And, fake democracy over our airwaves to the World..
But, with Citizen’s United and the Democrats, it sure looks like they cannot compete with the “Dominance of Local Corporate Cash and the Targeting That It Generates.” .. This was the real reason why Hillary made her lone concession to the “Progressive’s” with Citizen’s United. .. This, while she made virtually no meaningful concessions within the Party Bylaws, or in their operating procedures..
The Democrat’s are in a world of hurt. .. And, the choice for them (..as they apparently see it..) is to sling mud until 11/18. .. Because, they have very little wiggle room between their Owner’s and another hemorrhaging of yet even more of their own blue blood.
Read ‘em and weep.
*****
The One Hundred-Fourteenth United States Congress served during the final two years of Obama’s presidency. .. Elected in 2014, it represented the largest Republican majority, since the 71st Congress of 1929–1931.
The Senate: Republicans 54; Democrats 44; Independent 2
The House: Republicans 247; Democrats 188
The election results of November 2016 for the One Hundred-Fifteenth Congress was:
The Senate: Republicans 52; Democrats 46; Independent 2
The House: Republicans 241; Democrats 194
*****
As of today, the 50 Governorship’s within the US are:
Republicans 33
Democrats 16
Independent 1
*****
The party composition of the 50 State legislatures as of January 2017 is:
Republicans 32
Democrats 12
Split (House & Senate) 6
So Hillary is now throwing the DNC under the bus, after it worked so hard to help her out by rigging the Dem primary against Bernie.
Oh, and now she says the DNC was some useless, broke-ass, piddly org that gave her bad data and did nothing to help her. She had to help them instead! Nevermind that her campaign had about $2 BILLION dollars and out spent Trump’s on TV advertising, Big Data, etc. by a factor of 2 to 1, if I recall correctly. Plus the millions spent on the Correct the Record internet commenter trolls.
And having every single MSM outlet in America propagandizing for her. (CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, NYT, WaPo, Guardian, Slate, Salon, Atlantic, New Republic, NY Mag, NYRB, The Nation, Daily Kos, Alternet, Truthdig, etc.)
And she’s also throwing the New York Times under the bus, when they were totally in the bag for her–one of her most powerful and dutiful propaganda allies–because even the NYT felt obligated to report, while she was running for president, on the actual fact that she was the subject of an FBI criminal investigation for her unlawful use of a private email server for the four years she was Sec of State. (And then she lied and said it wasn’t a criminal investigation.) Yep, the DNC backed a candidate under an open criminal investigation by the FBI.
And the server thing, which Dem loyalists downplay and dismiss, is a very big deal. All the ink from NYT, etc. has been about whether she put classified info at risk. A distractor issue. Total BS.
The real issue is that using a private server was a way to avoid future FOIA requests into her pay to play deals to benefit the Clinton Foundation, by approving arms deals to shitty countries that either before or after gave millions to Clinton Foundation. She used her own basement server to keep the evidence of her role in those deals private and secret. The NYT didn’t bestir itself to explain that to the American public, even tho they sure as hell have filed a few FOIA requests in their time.
FOIA, not protecting classified info, is the main reason every govt employee, including the SofS, is required to use govt email for their taxpayer-funded communications–so the taxpayers can monitor their activities while they are employed as servants of the public. Clinton didn’t see herself as a servant of said public while employed by the government is what her private server use says to me. She’s above that sort of thing.
And she threw her own campaign under the bus for its confidence that she’d win. Huh, what? Beggars belief.
Typingperson-
You’ve got it dead right. They are all hyped up over Donald’s business with the “evil Ruskies”, but not a word to be found about her deals as SoS with foreign powers, and the whole “pay to play” scheme with the Clinton Foundation. It was a classic bait and switch to focus on the classified information instead, although both issues were prosecutable. God, she is pure evil.
Typingperson – great comments. Clinton is the walking definition of a personality disorder. She needs to be prosecuted and sent to whine to her cell walls.
You nailed it. The lying little con artist. The scum really does rise to the top in Washington DC.
I believe that virtually every comment I planned to make has already been preempted by somebody. The woman is really pitiful, and from all accounts is as clueless about that as Trump is about his own issues.
Which came first, the surveillance of the Trump campaign, or the suspicion that there was actually something to surveil? It is vital to preserve the myth of “Russian interference” in order that the illegal use of domestic surveillance for purely political purposes remains below the threshold of public scrutiny. For the most part, the American people are too dumb to realize that “freedom of association” and “right to privacy” guaranteed by The Constitution make the entire “intelligence agency” assessment a travesty. There was no evidentiary basis to conduct such surveillance in the first place, and no valid legal reason to justify conducting it even if such Russian overtures had been proven.
The entire political system in the US has become a gigantic “Catch 22” with a big rotten egg at its very center. Both parties are embroiled in efforts to discuss this “rotten egg” while at the same time afraid that one side or the other may crack it. The last thing either party wants is to expose the feculent stench of the putrified ooze that would emanate from the egg, but without cracking it, neither side can prove that it is right about the foul and repugnant contents it wishes to attribute to the opposing party. The authenticity of the DNC, Clinton and Podesta emails is not in question. Maintaining the false provenance of “Russian hacking” clearly distracts from what they reveal, which is at the heart of what BOTH PARTIES would prefer to conceal. For example, Hillary Clinton’s speeches to Goldman Sachs in which she iterated need for a “public” policy” and a “private policy” is classic fascism. It represents the exact strategy Hjalmar Schacht used when he sought to pacify the finance and industrial sectors of Germany by having Hitler assure them in private speeches that his nationalist policies would not interfere with private wealth and capital. By the same token, the Trump administration has gone so far as to place the industrialists and financiers directly in his cabinet.
Interfering with the democratic process by rigging a primary is a betrayal of fundamental American Constitutional values. It should be called what it really represents: treason. Its practitioners would logically be called “traitors”. Bernie Sanders failed to make an issue of the rigging, as it is well known that both parties practice these tactics, and neither side desires close scrutiny of its own misdeeds. As a consequence, after lengthy and unproductive public gyrations, our justice system will once again embarrassingly fail to prosecute. The corrupt status quo will be effectively maintained. Nobody will go to jail, and our corrupt politicians will have successfully protected their wealth, privilege and status without having to attend to the needs of We, The People. Donald Trump may be a scoundrel. Sensationalizing that attribute effectively deflects accusations that Hillary Clinton is a traitor. Therein lies the hypocrisy. Mark my words: nothing will come of this, because both sides are guilty as hell. Putin has no need to subvert our democracy. We’re doing a fine job all by ourselves.
You framed that Bernie issue with the DNC perfectly well.
After months of cable news preemptively disregarding all news except Trump news, I see Trump being a more than suitable symbol of a country falling from grace, or empire if you will. Trump has two problems, the MSM being one, and Trump himself being number two problem. I’m just wondering if Trump is being groomed (without his bigly knowledge) to be the ‘patsy’ for the fall, and when it comes? Just look at him. Trump is a caricature of a rich yankee bully boy, and the more he talks the more stupider he looks in the eyes of the world. He’s representative of a by gone America. He’s not the new fast up and coming America (whatever that is), but he stands for what is dying. My point being, is that Trump just maybe the perfect ‘fall guy’.
As for Hillary we should just ignore her.
Thank you very much F.G. You have summarized very eloquently this 2016 Election Meddling Case going on in Washington, and in MSM. I hope that some how your summary can be sent to the Special Prosecutor they have appointed over there in Washington. It will save tax payers millions of dollars.
It is hard to believe, how low the the political discourse in the country has come to.
I think that Special Prosecutor was called in by both sides. “Help, get us out of this! Cover up what we’ve done, please. Take lots of time and spend lots of money. That way the public will think you’re actually doing something.”
F.G. Sanford – excellent comments.
“Which came first, the surveillance of the Trump campaign, or the suspicion that there was actually something to surveil? It is vital to preserve the myth of “Russian interference” in order that the illegal use of domestic surveillance for purely political purposes remains below the threshold of public scrutiny.”
Exactly.
Right on F.G. Excellent. Thanks for sharing your clear understanding.
“For example, Hillary Clinton’s speeches to Goldman Sachs in which she iterated need for a “public” policy” and a “private policy” is classic fascism. It represents the exact strategy Hjalmar Schacht used when he sought to pacify the finance and industrial sectors of Germany by having Hitler assure them in private speeches that his nationalist policies would not interfere with private wealth and capital. By the same token, the Trump administration has gone so far as to place the industrialists and financiers directly in his cabinet.”
AMEN
Minister of Finance Hjamlar Schacht was a conservative holdover from Weimar who opposed the radical economic reforms of the “New Germany.” It was Fritz Reinhardt, a state secretary in the Reich Ministry of Finance, who introduced the revolutionary program in 1933 that rebuilt Germany’s economy. The Labor Procurement Law of June 1 began the restoration of the shattered economy. It continued with the Building Repair Law passed later that summer, and was essentially completed with the Tax Relief Law, the Company Refinancing Law; and the Reich’s Food Producer’s Law, all legislated in September. The huge costs of the these plans were covered by the reduction in jobless benefits, and substantial increases in corporate and a national sales tax, to the extent that in October, Reinhart was able to announce in Bremen, “expenditures and income of the Reich have balanced out.”
Millions of jobs were created for civilian infrastructure improvements. Contrary to persistent rumor, no more than 16.6% was allocated to military spending, and most of this was defensive, aimed at necessary precautions against a France that had invaded German territory thirty times in the previous two centuries.
F.G.Sanford , BRAVO on your summation. Writing of comments on this site are the best in class….bar none.
Way before the election it was oft reported that Russia was the main source of malware, viruses, hacking, identity theft and all other sorts of internet mischief and so that is why it was easy to blame Russia, the master hacker, for hacking the election.
I’m hopeful that even the staunchest. brain washed Hillbots will get tired of hearing her excuses and lies. Are you listening, Bill Maher? How about all you other late night comedians? Defending the indefensible.
Even Al Franken said in an interview yesterday that Hillary should move on from this obsession.
She should move on to something else besides politics in her remaining years, as Al Gore did, but I guess the dollar signs attached to her connections and influence are too big an incentive to drag her away from that arena. So, I guess she is going to continue to hold court as though she won the election for the next four years.
Even the Dems can’t be foolish enough to allow her to run for president in 2020, can they? All of her excuses and accusations are only making her even less likable, if that’s possible. Now she is blaming the DNC for running a bad campaign and giving her bad advice on Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately, looks like double trouble on the horizon. They say she is grooming Chelsea to run for Kirsten Gillibrand’s senate seat from New York. Now there’s a woman with even more money but less charm than Hillary.
Hillary is just a symptom of a democrat party that already sucked about as much as it possibly could.
She should move on to something else besides politics in her remaining years, as Al Gore did, but I guess the dollar signs attached to her connections and influence are too big an incentive to drag her away from that arena.
Perhaps the old adage about hell having no fury like a woman scorned is a factor. She will inflict her offensive presence on the American people every chance she gets.
Shark Love!
Come the mornin’ don’t ya wake me
I’ll be dreamin’ that I’m free
Come the daybreak don’t ya shake me
Send me back to misery
Cause I’m dealin’ with a devil
With no help from above
I’m stealin’ with the devil
Through this house of broken love
Save a shark. Eat a reporter.
Hey now. Reporters are tough and stringy. The good ones at least. We don’t taste good.
Now you’re making sense – at least to me. Nice poem.
Max…. a great piece of verse ! Are you the author? If not…can you give us a bit of background on the writer , please.
The “Interference in the Election” boils down to emails revealing Hillary & Co, ‘s shady doings and campaign dirt.
And they are calling this interference in an election?
Beam me up Scotty……
You forgot the 1,000 Russian trolls of the internet who somehow propagated “fake news” (via algorithms! Or something!!) that made carefully targeted voters pick Trump in the four Rust Belt states that Clinton ignored but that somehow the Russians knew in advance would carry the Electoral College. Because they are sinister all-powerful future-seers.
And, according to Clinton, it was Trump’s (famously chaotic, disorganized, seat of the pants) campaign that told the Russian trolls which voters out of 320 million American people to target with precision, laser focus to eke out an Electoral College win–and what “fake news” to use to take over their psyches. Cause he is such a skilled, experienced political operative.
Trump, the guy who neither expected nor wanted to win. Who ran for prez to get some free publicity and beef up his brand, in the venerable American tradition of P.T. Barnum and other shameless hucksters. Been reported his goal was to come in No. 2 or 3 in Repub primary–make a respectable showing then go back to selling hotels or timeshares or whatever the hell he does as a bidnessman.
This is surreal. Beyond belief. Clinton is either completely nuts or a pathological liar. Both, it appears. Pass the popcorn…
Yes.
Long live the king, long live trump .. .or not….Batista in Cuba, the Shah in Iran, Chile,Pinochet, Pol Pot in Cambodia, sadam Hussein in the 1980s’, All the Saudi princes, and Kings, Oh my GOD I love my Donald J Trump. Only DJT can set the world right, because. Donald J Trump will make us whole , I will have more money to buy Ivanka’s shoes, I will have more money to buy Jared Kushner’s condo in Manhattan, And best of all, I will pay no taxes on anything. I love Trump.
The people of the US gave themselves a choice between two childish, immature, flawed and unsuitable candidates to be POTUS, and wear the very dubious, and otherwise ridiculous title, of “Leader of the free world”.
Now the mainstream US media behaves irresponsibly, irrationally and unprofessionally like rusted-on supporters at a college football game.
While the losers (all Democrats, and many Republican would-bes) carry on like spoiled children, whose parents refused to buy them lollies.
And this, we are told, is not only the exceptional nation, but the indispensable one. “God help America.”
Jill Stein(out-Bernies Bernie) was on about 95% of the ballots, but 95% of the electorate that voted, voted for the two rotten apples. Go to Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) and type in their search box Anton Chaitkin; many of his articles will pop up. Read “Synarchy against America”, which defines the exceptionality of America…it was a project of European republican philosophers, deemed necessary to be carried out overseas at a safe distance from the overwhelming presence, in Europe and in Britain, of the Venetian-style of tyranny of Oligarchy. “God help the World” if the Synarchist Movement for Empire (SME) internally defeats America…they’re very close to succeeding now. The Synarchists, in the late 19th/early 20th century, gave birth to the fascist and NAZI movements, and the Communist movement even earlier, for a little dialectical one-two punch to eliminate “government of the people, by the people, for the people”, not that any Americans really give a shit any more, about this kind of stuff. Catch a baseball game, buy a hotdog, because “bread and circuses” is still in vogue with the mob, as the people were referred to, in Gladiator.
… and otherwise ridiculous title, of “Leader of the free world”.
Perhaps, the dominant barbarian would be a more accurate title.
How interesting, that there is such a place as “the free world” and because of the benevolence of our one percenters, we lucky enough to live in it. Where can this unhappy “unfree” world be? Maybe it is where those terrible tyrannies torment their people with the slavery of socialism!
Hillary Clinton is a total loser, and now she’s on some kind of a blame game tour, and it’s utterly pathetic. She really needs to withdraw from the public stage and find a hobby that will carry her into her dotage. She pulls out the “woman card” when she needs it to justify her greedy and corrupt activities, but if a man, say, Bernie Sanders, for example, was touring the country blaming Russians, high expectations, antisemitism, ageism, the corporate media, the DNC (well deserved in Bernie’s case), and everything and everyone else he could toss into the mix, he would be ridiculed from one coast to the other as a sore loser. In fact, Bernie, not Hillary, has been the subject of smears and lies from the liberal leaning corporate media ever since he had the audacity to compete with the anointed one. If the DNC and MSM had played fair and square and not had not colluded with the Clinton cabal, Bernie would have become the nominee, and he would have won in a landslide against Trump. As it stands, we have the Clinton cabal to blame for Trump, and until Hillary and the rest of her corrupt cronies publicly accept responsibility for this, we are stuck with Trump and Republican majorities for the foreseeable future.
You know Chloe, I would pay a mighty sum to say what you said about ‘Bernie would have won in a landslide against Trump’, to see Hillary’s reaction to that statement. Hide the expensive China dishes, and duck at everything flying, would be what I would expect Hillary’s response would be to such a comment, as yours. Good one, and well worth mentioning, because I like you Chloe believe Bernie would have beat Trump.
Thank you Joe! I like you too…?
Oops, the question mark is an error…I like you. :-)
Even with all the lies and smears in the media, Bernie won by 15% nationwide according to the exit poll data collected before they cancelled them so Shillary could “win” California with more protesters than voters. Clinton was so toxic Bernie didn’t even need superdelegates for the nomination but certifying fraudulent tallies in at least 13 states took care of that. Had the Democrats nominated the winner, Bernie would have definitely won in a landslide and even Trump knew it because he couldn’t steal his policies on the campaign trail like he did against Clinton and the crazy Bernie thing wasn’t landing. She remains deluded believing that people would have enthusiastically supported a man who was paid for promises to lie to them which means she still doesn’t get it and never will. It was the fraud and corruption people couldn’t stomach because we are after all, still pretending to have democratically elected “leaders”.
We have the Clinton cabal and other lowlife Democrats to blame for the loss of state legislatures and governorships as well as Congress and the presidency. Clinton was a Republican who wanted the Democratic Party to become another wing of the Republican Party, she got her way, and now she whines about the Republican to the right of her winning the election. Jeezums, I despise the Clintons and wish they would both disappear from public life.
Well said
Chloe…. true, only the REAL progressives can change the momentum now. ” Alas…poor Yorick “
Hillary Clinton is an albatross around the neck of the Democratic party. And she stinks, and the party stinks. My dream is that both stinking parties disappear forever. But knowing the deep ignorance of the American people, I am not very hopeful. People who can’t see through this lying campaign to unseat Trump deserve whatever they get. This witch hunt is so similar to what happened in Brazil recently, it makes you think that the Oligarchs will rule us to the bitter end, with the sheeple mindlessly supporting their oppressors.
Mike K….. your assessment is spot on. Here’s a piece I saw in the Sunday edition of the Roanoke Times ( 5-28 ) and your last sentences are a testament to it . “Intelligence rules the world, ignorance carries the burden”. By Marcus Garvey , Jamaican black nationalist ( 1887 – 1940). BTW – this was on the bottom corner of the puzzle page , and that in itself could be a topic of discussion. Puzzles and Truth …….
I have been in prison and since a long time ago , cigarettes are not allowed. Joe, prisons are non-smoking, unless you are a guard on your lunch break, there is no smoking in prison.
and any kind of tobacco is contraband in prison. Joe, you obviously never were in jail or prison. Let me enlighten you. There is no such thing as a phone call. You are taken intO custody, booking takes up to 12 hours, then you can make a call. That call is collect and you can only do that in a 15 second window, and the recipient has to accept the call. Did you , Joe Grow up in the 50’s, or 60’s, because you know nothing about prison or jail
My dear tina you know nothing about me. In my younger day on a few occasions yes I spent the night in jail. My illegal behavior was often back in those days drunken rowdiness, or getting caught for driving over the speed limit and not having enough for bail. I wasn’t what you might call a criminal, but I was a rebel at heart, and a bad one at that. Thank God I had enough time, and good people around me to reform myself to the good.
One time the jail guard allowed me to take my cigarettes into the cell, and that my darling tina was a experience. Imagine being in a cell block and your the only one with the smokes. Everybody while in their cells is going to kick your ass when they get released, but I waited outside the jail that morning only to find out how no one really deep down wanted to dance with me. The morale to the story, be careful of nice guy jail guards.
I’m not sure tina, if your joking with your comments you wrote to or about me, but take it easy girl your going to hurt my feelings if you keep it up. Here’s a little tip, quit trying to blow everybody’s minds with your comments….talk to us. Other than that tina I like you, and I respect you, so don’t beat up on your friends because you never know when you might need one. I’ll be here if you need me. Take care Joe
Hillary just can’t stand the truth that she loss, to of all people Donald Trump. Yeah Hillary it is unbelievable, that is if you are any other candidate other than Hillary Clinton. If I want to listen to people explain away their bad luck, while blaming anyone but themselves, I’ll visit a prison. Seriously Hillary you sound like a convict surrounded by other inmates having a cigarette break in the prison yard. And Hillary tell the truth, that Goldman Sachs speech money was well earned payback for all the wonderful things you and Bill did for your Wall Street buddies. Bringing up 911 as much as you do is a cheap appeal getter, and you know it, is your name now Rudy? Another thing, your reminding us constantly that you are a woman is hurting all women when it comes to making a good case for equal rights. The best part is, is that now Hillary Clinton you sound like a loser, and a poor one at that.
God, this is so true. She is such a snotty little victim and incompetent loser and then to try to blame it on feminism—jeez. The young women I talk to who actually ARE feminists, just hate her for it.
I have a wife, 5 daughters, and 6 granddaughters, and none of them have any love, or acceptance of anything Hillary represents. In fact, I think Hillary by playing the woman card distracts from the real issues most woman deal with inside their daily lives. Let’s be real, it’s been a very long time since Hillary had to live the life that a average woman must lead. I know I don’t dislike Hillary for her being a woman, but I do hate what she brings to the world. I just wish Hillary would retire, and enjoy her grandchild. Having 13 grandchildren of our own, I can only say to Hillary, ‘woman you can’t believe what you are missing’.
We’ve seen Hillary characterized as a feminist champion, which may play well among privileged Wellesley alumnae, but in the real world it is a shocking travesty. As wife of the Governor of Arkansas, Hillary fought and broke teachers’ unions largely composed of minority women. On the board of directors of Walmart, the nation’s largest employer of women, Hillary praised that company’s exploitative labor practices. As First Lady Hillary was instrumental in her husband’s successful campaign to deprive women and their children of the basic social safety net under the guise of “welfare reform.” As Secretary of State she fought Haitian women’s efforts to get a tiny increase in minimum wage in American-owned sweatshops and in Honduras she helped replace the elected government with a junta that routinely employs the rape and murder of women in its reign of terror against its own people.
“Representative Adam Schiff … dismissed accusations from Carter Page, another Trump adviser who is under scrutiny, that the committee is preventing him from testifying. Mr. Schiff …. said the investigation would first review relevant documents before interviewing witnesses.”
Perhaps, Schiff and his Democratic posse on the house “intelligence” committee are catching on the to the fact that Carter Page is sharper than they are and they need a delay to do their homework.
“I also think I was the victim of a very broad assumption I was going to win,” she said.
Perhaps Clinton should have told her surrogates to not have been so positive about her chances.
Yes, the assumption that she would win was created almost entirely by the Clinton side and was spread by the pro-Clinton mass media. They portrayed Trump as so unelectable that many Americans would not admit to belonging to the “basket of deplorables” who voted for him. That was the reason for the errors in the opinion polls.
And now she wants us to believe that the American media had less influence than an algorithm that controlled a computer server to spread propaganda written by a bunch of Russian trolls.
It is obvious that this person has a serious mental disorder. Will she be spouting this stuff for the rest of her life?
Yes, delusion will be her epitaph.
Danny Weil and Fuzzy…..delusion ? You’re both being too kind. She knows full well that hubris swept her and the DNC along the path of illegal acts disregarding any sense of propriety and fairness. Now as usual she continues the lie , as her life is a lie and manifests itself in a sort of self fulfilling prophecy . A good dose of reality , an indictment and several years in the slammer MIGHT bring forth contrite mea-culpas Then again she may choose to double down if it keeps her in the limelight.
It apparently derived from unconfirmed speculation from Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, who mentioned this claim at a news conference on March 30, admitting that he didn’t know if it was true.
This statement probably helps to explain why Warner is on the senate “intelligence” committee.
The Senate Intel committee apparently does not care that the bloated intel budget has not predicted any significant event that we all knew about after the fact, and has generated crucial fake information deliberately (Iraq and Syria WMD eg). It appears to be largely a “fake news” generator controlled by political appointees. Its warrantless domestic spying is the greatest internal threat to democracy in history, and as it generates drone targets, it has helped destroy US willingness to seek diplomatic rather than military solutions. Apparently the committee is controlled by the budget beneficiaries, either by bribes or groupthink.
Once more an essential counterpoint to the mass media propaganda.
Those who would like to petition the NYT to make Robert Parry their senior editor may do so here:
https://www.change.org/p/new-york-times-bring-a-new-editor-to-the-new-york-times?recruiter=72650402&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
While Mr. Parry may prefer independence, and we all know the NYT ownership makes it unlikely, and the NYT may try to ignore it, it is instructive to them that intelligent readers know better journalism when they see it. A petition demonstrates the concerns of a far larger number of potential or lost subscribers.
Thank you for the petition!