February 13, 2016

Bill Clinton throw Obama under the bus (video)

This video shows Bill blaming Obama for Wall St corruption - which is of course funding his wife's campaign... if only Obama had done a better job making change then his wife wouldn't be so beholden to the rigged system... but don't worry, Hillary is only beholden to the rigged system until she's President... then she'll really make change... like using mob money to set up the FBI to fight the mob... what could go wrong...

February 12, 2016

I know

My daughter was so distraught today. But... I'm glad this was her first pet. The best cat ever.

It's so very sad. But 16 is nothing to be ashamed of for a cat.

Ah it's just too much really... Sorry just a bit sad.

February 12, 2016

My beloved 16 year old cat Mouser is near death

I know none of you know me, but I just have to emote a bit and this place is kinda the right mix of comfortable and anonymous....

My cat, mouser, is 16. She probably won't make it through the night.



I got her for my 26th Birthday, when living in Boston.. from my then girlfriend... it was a big move.. we'd only moved in together a few months earlier.. but she - Mouser - took it all in stride... in fact she climbed out of the box and onto my chest the second she arrived...



We then moved to a different house in Boston for a few years, and my girlfriend and I got married.. we then moved to London and brought mouser along... we moved twice in London, then to Ireland... where we had two kids - both of whom Mouser loved and never acted out towards. We then moved twice in Ireland and finally settled. We have lived in the same house for 7 years, making this, by far, the longest we - and Mouser have stayed put.




Never once was she scared of a new house, or did she hide under a bed for a few days... she was always open to the adventure...








She's also never been sick a day in her life... until a few weeks back... we took her to the vet, but.. cancer... it's an awful thing...

But like everything else she's just rolled with it... she's been going outside, smiling at new sounds and smells, perking up when I play the guitar - her favourite sound I think - or when I call her name.. or when the kids or my wife come into the room... she's fighting as hard as she can... and losing...

Because I know how much she loves music and the sound of birds I had classical piano music on all day, mixed with one of those 8 hour sounds of nature videos... that seemed to help her rest a bit I think... but... she can barely walk.. she's collapsed a few times trying to walk even 20 steps and is basically fading away.. I've been an utter wreck.. to say the least, but I'm also trying to help her be at peace as much as possible... I know I'll probably wake up tomorrow and she'll be gone, and that breaks my heart, but I also know we've given her a real, true, home, and an adventure.. and more love than most animals could dream of... it doesn't make it hurt any less, but... ...

anyway... goodbye Mouser cat... we love you.

February 10, 2016

Why people distrust Hillary Clinton

Since I'm banned from the Hillary Group, and can't reply to a post, I'll just respond with an OP of my own.

Why people distrust Hillary.

First we should parse distrust a bit, as there's more than one kind of distrust:

1. People distrust that she has the judgement for the job.

2. People distrust that she's honest.

There's plenty of reasons for BOTH as we'll see.

JUDGEMENT:

Where to begin?

- IWR
- All the flip flops, including on Dem plank issues like healthcare for all, and gay rights.
- Corporate money for speeches so close to an election
- Doubling-down on a failed 2008 campaign strategy
- etc.

There's so many issues where people look at Hillary's experience and don't see it as a strength. Experience can be good and bad, which is something the Hillary campaign can't bear to consider, much less say out loud.

Any of those reason could be enough to make a voter distrust Hillary. Together they form a pretty awful rainbow of reasons to distrust her.

HONESTY:

- Flip-flopping for political gain
- Huge ethical lapses during her time at State
- Lying about issues around her server
- Playing political games with her speeches
- Pretending almost criticism of her is sexist, Bernie won because he's from Vermont, she's the biggest foe of corporate crime, etc.
- Numerous extremely corrupt looking arrangements and decisions regarding her Foundation
- Handing back 5K to protest Walmart one campaign, then taking 300,000 from them in another
- Etc.

Again, if even one of those makes you distrust her, then she's screwed. As a whole, she's screwed with huge percentage of voters - who do distrust her.

Between the two types of trust there's AMPLE reasons to distrust her. And there's many more in her past. And by attacking her opponent in an area that is HER greatest weakness, she's making her situation worse. Demonstrably.

February 10, 2016

CNN is about to announce some early results.

57 Bernie
39 Clinton

1%

If thst holds its gonna be HUGE news tomorrow.


Hilariously Trump has 42% of the vote. The next nearest GOPer is Cruz at 11%.

Hahahah...

February 9, 2016

Bernie Sanders is NOT a Socialist, by ANY definition

Socialism is defined by the STATE owning the means of production.

That's not what he believes in

Here's what he believes in:

"support for a "universalist" welfare state aimed specifically at enhancing individual autonomy and promoting social mobility; a corporatist system involving a tripartite arrangement where representatives of labor and employers negotiate wages and labor market policy mediated by the government; and a commitment to widespread private ownership, free markets and free trade."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model

That's Bernie.

Socialism on the other hand is this:

"Socialism is a variety of social and economic systems characterised by social ownership and democratic control of the means of production; as well as the political ideologies, theories, and movements that aim at their establishment. Social ownership may refer to forms of public, cooperative, or collective ownership; to citizen ownership of equity; or to any combination of these. Although there are many varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them, social ownership is the common element shared by its various forms."

Bernie DOESN'T believe in that.

Social ownership is NOT the same thing as universal healthcare or building roads.

This is from the Wiki page on Social Ownership:

Misuse of the term

See also: Socialized medicine

Particularly in the United States, the term "socialization" has been mistakenly used to refer to any state or government-operated industry or service (the proper term for such being either nationalization or municipalization). It has also been used to mean any tax-funded programs, whether privately run or government run. The term "socialized" is usually used in a pejorative sense, most commonly in reference to publicly funded health care programs.[43]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_ownership#Misuse_of_the_term

February 8, 2016

Role of Hillary Clinton’s brother in Haiti gold mine raises eyebrows

"It also has become a potentially problematic issue for Hillary Rodham Clinton as she considers a second presidential run, after it was revealed this month that in 2013, one of her brothers was added to the advisory board of the company that owns the mine.

Tony Rodham’s involvement with the mine, which has become a source of controversy in Haiti because of concern about potential environmental damage and the belief that the project will primarily benefit foreign investors, was first revealed in publicity about an upcoming book on the Clintons by author Peter Schweizer.

In interviews with The Washington Post, both Rodham and the chief executive of Delaware-based VCS Mining said they were introduced at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative — an offshoot of the Clinton Foundation that critics have long alleged invites a blurring of its charitable mission with the business interests of Bill and Hillary Clinton and their corporate donors.[/b

Rodham said he has not been involved in any other deals through connections made at CGI. He said that he has never spoken to his sister or her husband about the Haiti project and that he does not think VCS chief executive and president Angelo Viard, a Democratic donor, approached him because of his family ties. Rodham declined to say who introduced him to Viard; Viard said he could not ­remember.

Viard said that he paid to become a member of CGI so he could attend two of the organization’s meetings, and that he met Rodham at a gathering in 2012. (Foundation officials said Viard paid a $20,000 membership fee in 2013.)

“You try to be a member so you can meet people in the same industry,” Viard said. He said he attended CGI as “a pure marketing operation.”

The Clintons have been longtime advocates for development in Haiti, especially since the earthquake. Bill Clinton, as the United Nations’ special envoy to the nation, and Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, were primary forces in the emergency relief response and later efforts to create long-term development plans for the ravaged country.

But the Clintons’ image in Haiti has slipped in recent months as Haitians increasingly complain that Clinton-backed projects have often helped the country’s elite and international business investors more than they have helped poor Haitians.

Read more here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clintons-raised-nearly-2-billion-for-foundation-since-2001/2015/02/18/b8425d88-a7cd-11e4-a7c2-03d37af98440_story.html?tid=a_inl

February 6, 2016

Clinton Foundation Donors Got Weapons Deals From Hillary Clinton's State Department

Even by the standards of arms deals between the United States and Saudi Arabia, this one was enormous. A consortium of American defense contractors led by Boeing would deliver $29 billion worth of advanced fighter jets to the United States' oil-rich ally in the Middle East.

Israeli officials were agitated, reportedly complaining to the Obama administration that this substantial enhancement to Saudi air power risked disrupting the region's fragile balance of power. The deal appeared to collide with the State Department’s documented concerns about the repressive policies of the Saudi royal family.

But now, in late 2011, Hillary Clinton’s State Department was formally clearing the sale, asserting that it was in the national interest. At a press conference in Washington to announce the department’s approval, an assistant secretary of state, Andrew Shapiro, declared that the deal had been “a top priority” for Clinton personally. Shapiro, a longtime aide to Clinton since her Senate days, added that the “U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army have excellent relationships in Saudi Arabia.”

In the years before Hillary Clinton became secretary of state, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia contributed at least $10 million to the Clinton Foundation.

Just two months before the deal was finalized, Boeing -- the defense contractor that manufactures one of the fighter jets the Saudis were especially keen to acquire, the F-15 -- contributed $900,000 to the Clinton Foundation...

The Saudi deal was one of dozens of arms sales approved by Hillary Clinton’s State Department that placed weapons in the hands of governments that had also donated money to the Clinton family philanthropic empire...

Under Clinton's leadership, the State Department approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments have given money to the Clinton Foundation

That figure...represented nearly double the value of American arms sales made to the those countries and approved by the State Department during the same period of President George W. Bush’s second term.

The Clinton-led State Department also authorized $151 billion of separate Pentagon-brokered deals for 16 of the countries that donated to the Clinton Foundation, resulting in a 143 percent increase in completed sales to those nations over the same time frame during the Bush administration.

These extra sales were part of a broad increase in American military exports that accompanied Obama’s arrival in the White House. The 143 percent increase in U.S. arms sales to Clinton Foundation donors compares to an 80 percent increase in such sales to all countries over the same time period.

--

NOTE: If you read that last sentence carefully it's damning. You had almost a 50% better chance of having your arms deal approved if you donated to the Clinton Foundation.

--

American defense contractors also donated to the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state and in some cases made personal payments to Bill Clinton for speaking engagements. Such firms and their subsidiaries were listed as contractors in $163 billion worth of Pentagon-negotiated deals that were authorized by the Clinton State Department between 2009 and 2012.

The State Department formally approved these arms sales even as many of the deals enhanced the military power of countries ruled by authoritarian regimes whose human rights abuses had been criticized by the department.

Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar all donated to the Clinton Foundation and also gained State Department clearance to buy caches of American-made weapons even as the department singled them out for a range of alleged ills, from corruption to restrictions on civil liberties to violent crackdowns against political opponents.

As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton also accused some of these countries of failing to marshal a serious and sustained campaign to confront terrorism. In a December 2009 State Department cable published by Wikileaks, Clinton complained of “an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority.” She declared that “Qatar's overall level of CT cooperation with the U.S. is considered the worst in the region.” She said the Kuwaiti government was “less inclined to take action against Kuwait-based financiers and facilitators plotting attacks.” She noted that “UAE-based donors have provided financial support to a variety of terrorist groups.” All of these countries donated to the Clinton Foundation and received increased weapons export authorizations from the Clinton-run State Department.

http://www.ibtimes.com/clinton-foundation-donors-got-weapons-deals-hillary-clintons-state-department-1934187

There's SOOOOOO much more at the link.

It should ALSO be noted that a HUGE percentage of the companies and countries listed ALSO have hired the lobbying firm owned by John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.

These include things like Boeing, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, and Saudi Arabia.

At the time of these sales Podesta was a "Personal Advisor" to Barrack Obama.

During Bill Clinton's Presidency, Podesta - who owned that lobbying firm back then as well, was the Chief of Staff.

This is pretty much the definition of corruption in my book.

February 6, 2016

Those Clinton/Wal-Mart ties explained

You might remember this:

"In 2005 she returned a $5,000 donation from the company's PAC, severing most of her political ties to the company and putting an end to a long, cozy relationship that dated back to her days in Arkansas."

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/hillary-clinton-costco-walmart

That was because:

"former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is courting top labor leaders, picking up union endorsements and criticizing Republican efforts to undercut unions as she runs for president"

Sadly, though that was all just optics:

"Jose Villarreal, Clinton's treasurer, has deep ties to the Democratic establishment. A San Antonio-based consultant and former partner at the powerhouse legal and lobbying firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Villarreal has long served as a trusted Clinton adviser and has had leadership roles on five consecutive Democratic presidential campaigns. At the State Department, Villarreal sent Clinton’s team messaging advice and served as the commissioner general for the United States’ pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo -- a role that earned him ambassadorial rank from President Barack Obama.

What makes Villarreal's role in the Clinton campaign intriguing is that he has remained within the orbit of the Waltons, America's richest family, even as Clinton has worked to downplay her own six-year term on the board of Walmart, the country’s largest private-sector employer. While Villarreal was on Walmart’s Executive Advisory Council until at least 2013, Clinton’s official campaign website biography makes no mention that she sat on the company’s board from 1986 to 1992."

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/hillary-clinton-walmart_n_7714918.html

And how do the Waltons feel about this two-faced approach?

Pretty good actually... Because Wal-Mart has been trying to get Clintons elected president for decades:

"Associated Press reported in 2006 that Mrs. Clinton was paid $18,000 annually plus $1,500 for each meeting she attended as a board member. The Clintons had $100,000 in Walmart stock, which was put into a blind trust after the 1992 election. The Clintons also flew for free on Wal-Mart corporate planes 14 times in 1990 and 1991, in preparation for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential bid.

The ties between the Clintons and the Walton family continue to this day. Alice Walton, the daughter of Wal-Mart’s founder Sam Walton, is a big supporter of Hillary Clinton becoming the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016. According to filings with the FEC, Alice Walton gave $25,000, the maximum allowed under federal law, to the super PAC Ready for Hillary. According to Clinton Foundation’s disclosures, the Walmart Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation each have given between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation."

http://www.progressivepress.net/hillary-clinton-was-a-wal-mart-director-for-6-years/

But that's not all:

"Walmart is headquartered in Arkansas. Clinton once served on its board. And Alice Walton gave Clinton's Democratic National Committee Victory Fund $353,000 in December -- a contribution just made public in filings Sunday."

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/03/politics/new-hampshire-democratic-town-hall-what-to-watch/index.html

I wonder why?

"Former secretary of state is the only Democratic presidential candidate who has not come out in support of a $15 minimum wage"

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/18/walmart-protesters-hillary-clinton-campaign-brooklyn

Really? I mean how much would that really cost Wal Mart?

Well... Some people say 10 Billion.

http://prospect.org/article/how-walmart-could-afford-pay-15-hour

So at a time when Wal Mart is having to close hundreds of stores across the country, to protect profits, a few hundred thousand to the Democrat that's against 15/hr wages is a small investment in potentially a huge return.

Of course talking out of both sides of her mouth is par for the course:

"If you don’t start out trying to get universal health care, we know--and our members of Congress know--you’ll never get there. If a Democrat doesn’t stand for universal health care that includes every single American, you can see the consequences of what that will mean. It is imperative that we have plans, as both John and I do, that from the very beginning say, “You know what? Everybody has got to be covered.”

- Hillary Clinton 2008

February 5, 2016

Mainstream media drops lobbying bomb on Hillary

Her loss in Iowa opened the floodgates for the media to start detailing the reality of the situation.

Headline: Meet the lobbyists, donors and bundlers behind Hillary’s $157 million juggernaut




"now runs Subject Matter, a go-to Democratic lobbying firm for corporate interests.."

Clients: Wall Street banks (Goldman Sachs and Citigroup), the casino industry (the American Gaming Association), telecoms (Verizon and Time Warner), tech firms (Facebook and Microsoft), agribusiness (Monsanto) and the NFL.



"The superlobbyist brother of John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, he runs Podesta Group"

Clients: Defense contractors (Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Bechtel), pharmaceutical and health insurance giants (Merck and Blue Cross-Blue Shield) and banking and private equity firms (Well Fargo, Credit Suisse Group, KKR), foreign governments, including several — Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Burma and the Maldives — accused by the State Department of human rights abuses.

Bonus points: Podesta has used his D.C. mansion, famously decorated with expensive modern art, to host a Clinton fundraiser (offering fine Italian cooking by him and his brother) as well as a book party for Clinton super-PAC attack dog David Brock (co-hosted by Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias and Clinton email pal Sidney Blumenthal.)



"She runs her own rival firm, Heather Podesta & Partners."

Clients: MacAndrews & Forbes (the Wall Street investment firm owned by billionaire Ronald Perelman) as well as Marathon Oil, the Cigna Corp. and the National Pork Producers Council and the National Cannabis Industry Association.



"Clinton’s most prolific Lobbyist bundler, now is a partner at Capitol Counsel"

Clients: Sullivan specializes in protecting tax breaks for private equity and real estate investment firms (Blackstone, Beacon Capitol Partners and the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.) Other big clients include the PhRMA, the drug industry’s lobbying arm, and two of its leading members (Roche Holdings and Amgen.)

Bonus 1: "Sullivan is the former DNC finance chair who first got attention as the supervisor of John Huang, the fundraiser convicted of campaign finance violations during Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection."

Bonus 2: "Sullivan’s partner at his lobbying firm, David Jones, another longtime Democratic fundraiser, has bundled another $386,000. "



"former Indiana Democratic senator" and "a strategic adviser to the business clients of McGuireWoods"

Clients: "Exxon Mobil, Duke Energy and the National Association of Manufacturers"

Bonus 1: "Bayh, who hosted a fundraiser for Clinton at the McGuireWoods K St. office last spring, also serves as a strategic adviser to Apollo Management, the Wall Street private equity firm (which paid Clinton $225,000 for a speech after she left office.)"

Bonus 2: "Two of his McGuireWoods colleagues, Andrew Smith and former South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, are also bundlers who have raised $240,000 for the Clinton campaign while lobbying for clients that include Smithfield Foods (now owned by the Chinese-based Shuanghui Group) and Dandong Port Group, a Hong Kong-registered port and grain importing firm owned by secretive Chinese billionaire Wenliang Wang, who has donated $2 million to the Clinton Foundation."

LOTS more here:

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/hillarys-financial-armada-233033648.html

This is what wheels coming off looks like.

EDIT:

Since this thread is gaining traction, I'll add this:

http://www.ibtimes.com/clinton-foundation-donors-got-weapons-deals-hillary-clintons-state-department-1934187

PLEASE READ THIS LINK ^^^

There's so much crucial info in it that needs to be repeated as often and as loudly as possible.

EDIT 2: The Yahoo article has 2200 comments... That's the power of the mainstream media reporting this. Mass exposure is exactly what's needed.