Tuesday, June 21, 2016 3:14:31 PM
Sanders talks campaign's next steps after White House visit
Published on Jun 9, 2016 by PBS NewsHour [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6ZFN9Tx6xh-skXCuRHCDpQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/PBSNewsHour , http://www.youtube.com/user/PBSNewsHour/videos ]
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke with the media outside of the White House on Thursday after a meeting with President Barack Obama. Sen. Sanders said he would look to a full count of the California primary's votes and looks forward to Washington, D.C.'s Democratic primary on Tuesday. He also added that he was planning to meet with presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton in the near future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7rTjIrK9uk [comments disabled] [also at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D3KE5q0oJE (with comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDa3zWmVcjU (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsvSQNecJkQ (with comments)]
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Hillary Clinton
@HillaryClinton
President Obama endorses Hillary: "I don’t think there’s ever been someone so qualified to hold this office."
President Obama is proud to support Hillary Clinton — add your name to join him on our team.
hillaryclinton.com [ https://www.hillaryclinton.com/are-you-in , with the YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9W0F2mz1jc (no comments yet), embedded]
10:50 AM - 9 Jun 2016
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/740964361552941056 [with comments]
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Hillary Clinton
@HillaryClinton
Honored to have you with me, @POTUS. I'm fired up and ready to go! -H
10:56 AM - 9 Jun 2016
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/740965834470916097 [with comments]
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President Obama offers hearty endorsement of Hillary Clinton
The Rachel Maddow Show
6/9/16
Rachel Maddow looks back at some past presidential endorsements and their attendant political drama and reports on President Obama's endorsement today of Hillary Clinton for president. Duration: 5:05
Obama offers a formal endorsement of Clinton; president also meets with Sanders
June 9, 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/seeking-to-exit-on-his-own-terms-bernie-sanders-comes-to-washington-thursday/2016/06/09/0b252f10-2e39-11e6-9de3-6e6e7a14000c_story.html [with embedded video, and (over 8,000) comments]
President Barack Obama Formally Backs Hillary Clinton
Jun 9 2016
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/president-barack-obama-formally-backs-hillary-clinton-n589091 [with embedded videos, and comments]
©2016 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/obama-offers-hearty-endorsement-of-clinton-702704195553 [show transcript at http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2016-06-09 ] [the above YouTube of the segment for the moment at least at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzLDiZMFHTg (no comments yet)]
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren - ACS Convention 2016
Published on Jun 9, 2016 by American Constitution Society [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2Q0BU-oK0Q11mOfMVlJrCw / http://www.youtube.com/user/acslaw1776 , http://www.youtube.com/user/acslaw1776/videos ]
ACS National Convention 2016
Washington, D.C., June 9-11, 2016
https://www.acslaw.org/convention/2016
Convention Schedule
http://www.acslaw.org/sites/default/files/2016%20Convention%20Schedule%20(Program).pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVyfuR0n3sM [with comments] [and see in particular (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123213585 and following,
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=122890755 and preceding and following]
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Vice President Joe Biden - ACS Convention 2016
Published on Jun 9, 2016 by American Constitution Society
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhoQeS3haFE [with comments]
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Bernie Sanders FANTASTIC Rally in Washington, DC June 9, 2016
Published on Jun 17, 2016 by Special Report [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0jXd7dzjiEY6Al4ISJ1ryg , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0jXd7dzjiEY6Al4ISJ1ryg/videos ]
Bernie Sanders FANTASTIC Rally at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, June 9, 2016.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV6ri3b0yBc [Bernie's performance begins at c. the 13:30 mark; no comments yet] [also at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yG0L2rADHM (with comments), and, with less or none of the introductory remarks, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0JZkxtjces (no comments yet), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm89-Qcq7PU (no comments yet), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZRqreXt5mo (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThRjRNvYc8c (with comments)]
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Bernie Sanders Gives A Speech Divorced From Reality
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), speaks during a campaign rally in Washington, D.C.
Mark Wilson/via/Getty Images
Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during A Future to Believe In rally on June 9, 2016, in Washington, DC.
MOLLY RILEY/AFP/Getty Images
He rallied supporters with a typical stump speech in Washington ahead of next week’s primary — the last of the season.
By Samantha Lachman
06/09/2016 09:38 pm ET | Updated Jun 10, 2016
WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders delivered his typical stump speech at a campaign rally Thursday evening, choosing not to acknowledge President Barack Obama’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton, his meeting with the president, or Clinton’s claim to have won enough delegates for the Democratic nomination.
“Next Tuesday, here in Washington, you will be having the very last primary of the Democratic nominating process,” Sanders told a crowd outside Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. “It would be extraordinary if the people of Washington, our nation’s capital, stood up and told the world that they are ready to lead this country into a political revolution.”
It’s not surprising that Sanders would want to pretend Washington voters could change the reality of the Democratic race. But his speech — which didn’t mention the words “Hillary Clinton” or “convention” — seemed uniquely frozen in time. A recording of his remarks, except for the part about Washington at the end, would give few clues about when or where they had been given. He didn’t mention that earlier in the day, Obama endorsed Clinton, who has won enough delegates for the Democratic nomination, or that he met at the White House with Obama and pledged to work closely with Clinton to defeat GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump.
Sanders was somewhat more reflective than in past speeches, noting that his campaign had won 22 primaries and caucuses, garnered over 10 million votes, and broken small-dollar fundraising records. He listed places he had visited — from Flint, Michigan, to Pine Ridge, South Dakota — and implicitly advised the Democratic Party that could learn from his campaign’s successes.
“We are here in mid-June and we are still standing,” he said. “We have showed the world you can run a winning national campaign without relying on Wall Street and fossil fuel and drug company donations.”
Sanders decried corporate money in politics, income inequality, unemployment, climate change, federal drug policy, jobs transferred out of the U.S. and student debt. He pledged to reform the immigration system, health care system, campaign finance system and criminal justice system. (And other systems.)
“Young people are catching on. They are the future of America, and they are damn determined to shape the future of America,” he said. “Real change never takes place from the top-down, it takes place from the bottom-up.”
Roughly 3,000 Sanders supporters chanted, “Thank you, Bernie!” at the beginning of his speech, and, “Stay in the race!” near the end, as the sun set. They were as defiant as Sanders was.
The Huffington Post had a difficult time finding supporters in the crowd who would admit they were ready to vote for Clinton, the party’s presumptive nominee, in November.
“Hillary Clinton needs to win our votes, which means adopting some of Bernie’s platform,” said Keith Melchers, a 57-year-old D.C. resident, mentioning Sanders’ proposal for free public university tuition. “She’s got to take on some of his agenda … I’m going to hold out to see what she does. I’m open, but it can’t be just, ‘Hey you’ve got to automatically support me.’ She has to come a little bit our way on our platform.”
Susan Shufelt, a 69-year-old from Maryland, said she doesn’t think she could vote for Clinton.
“I would feel terrible if [Sanders] just endorsed Hillary and that was it,” Shufelt said. “I want him to do something that will help get money out of politics and help reduce income inequality, the things he talked about during the campaign. I’m not hopeful because HIllary is so connected to money, her husband has his foundation, I don’t see any hope with her. … But I promised my friends I will keep an open mind, those who are a little less rigid than me.”
Melchers said he’d be “delighted” if Clinton chose Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as her running mate. Others, however, said they didn’t think Clinton could pick a vice presidential candidate who could make them feel comfortable with her nomination.
And many said they weren’t ready to even consider the possibility of voting for Clinton in the fall. They made noises of frustration at the question and characterized support for Clinton as “giving in.”
“It’s the idea that we send a message to the establishment government that just because you chose Hillary, we’re not going to bow down to a lesser evil,” said Sufian Abulohom, 20, a student at American University. “It’s sending a message if you don’t pick Bernie Sanders, we’re not voting. … He’s going to send a message [at the Democratic convention] when he goes that he’s the best candidate to beat Donald Trump.”
Not all of Sanders’ fans were so adamantly against Clinton. HuffPost found one supporter — 17-year-old Virginian Meghan Gibbons — who said she would vote for the former secretary of state in November.
“I’ve always been a big Bernie supporter so I came out to see what his last, final hurrah was like,” said Gibbons. “I think he should rally behind Hillary, if nothing other than to try to prevent Trump from getting into office.”
But April Washington, a 41-year-old D.C. resident, said she wasn’t afraid enough of a Trump victory in the general election to back Clinton.
“Let the chips fall where they may, with that,” Washington said.
Copyright © 2016 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-washington_us_5759fdbfe4b00f97fba7e023 [with embedded video report, and comments]
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Sanders, Clinton and, er, President Trump?
Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times
By Nicholas Kristof
JUNE 9, 2016
Bernie Sanders has had a stunning impact this year, helping set the political agenda and winning the passionate embrace of a demographic a quarter his age. A socialist, Jewish, non-pandering candidate who didn’t kiss babies but lectured their parents on social justice won 22 states. But now he has lost. It’s time for him and his followers to stop sniping and start uniting.
Sanders has said he will ultimately support the Democratic ticket, and I’m sure he intends to. But for now he’s still dividing more than coalescing.
In a New York Times/CBS News poll last month, nearly one-fourth of Sanders supporters said that in a Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump matchup, they would either vote for Trump (which suggests bipolar disorder!) or stay home. That figure is inflated by bitterness and resentment, but if some Sandernistas sit on their hands this fall they could help elect a man antithetical to everything they stand for.
At this point, Sanders has essentially zero chance of becoming our next president. Meanwhile, there is a modest risk that continued Democratic warfare will cost Clinton the election. The upshot is that continuing to tilt at windmills is many, many times more likely to elect Trump than Sanders.
We’ve seen this before. In 1968, liberal disenchantment with the Democratic nominee, Hubert Humphrey, assisted in the election of Richard Nixon. In 1980, Edward Kennedy’s endless challenge to Jimmy Carter undermined Carter and probably gave Ronald Reagan a lift.
And in 2000, many liberals regarded Al Gore the way some see Clinton today, as a flip-flopper short on inspiration and convictions. So a small number voted for a third-party candidate, Ralph Nader, probably helping put George W. Bush in office.
Nader, whom I admire for his transformational impact on consumer rights, disagrees: He tells me that it’s absurd to blame him for Bush’s election, and he wants Sanders to continue his campaign.
“Why would he want to lose his bargaining power?” Nader asks, suggesting that by staying in the race, Sanders can influence the Democratic platform and Clinton’s choice of a running mate. Anyway, he says, “Trump’s going to implode.”
He’s probably right on that count. I would bet that Trump will lose, and I’d even give two-to-one odds. But I remember how my mother in 1980, as a fan of President Carter, was overjoyed when Reagan became the Republican nominee since she figured that assured Carter’s re-election. She wasn’t so happy a few months later.
Presidential campaigns are driven in part by surprises: What if there is a new wave of Central American refugees, or a terror attack by a Muslim recently admitted to the U.S.? Either would bolster Trump’s chances.
The success of both Trump and Sanders this year should inspire humility on the part of all of us about predicting election results. I agree with Nader that it’s almost unthinkable for Trump to be elected. Then again, it once was unthinkable that he would win the Republican nomination.
Sanders supporters should also remember that they agree at least in part with Clinton on Wall Street excesses, income inequality and college debt. Likewise, whatever their distaste for the Clintons, they probably share her views on reproductive health, on Supreme Court nominees, on inclusiveness toward Muslims and Mexican-Americans, on immigration reform, on early-childhood investments, on a stronger social safety net, on women’s rights around the world, on reducing mass incarceration and on a global pact to confront climate change.
Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat who has been the only senator to back Sanders, acknowledges that now “we have a nominee.” He tells me that Sanders will continue his primary race through the Washington, D.C., vote next week but ultimately will focus on party unity.
“When I talked to Bernie when he was first thinking about running, he made it absolutely clear that he didn’t want to do anything that would result in the journey that we experienced with Ralph Nader,” Merkley said. “He will do everything possible to make sure that Trump is not in the Oval Office, and to do ‘everything possible’ certainly means that we’ve got to come together not just as a formality but in an inclusive, emphatic, unified fashion.”
In 2008, at about this time, Clinton stepped up and gave a powerful endorsement of Barack Obama. But she and Obama agreed on almost everything, while Sanders disagrees with Clinton on some issues and still exudes scorn for the Clinton campaign.
“Our struggle continues,” Sanders said in a new fund-raising email on Wednesday. Speaking in California on Tuesday evening, he did little to discourage his audience as it booed mention of Clinton.
That’s just irresponsible. And now that Clinton has won a majority of pledged delegates, it’s a violation of Sanders’s own principles to try to get superdelegates to vote for him rather than for the people’s choice.
“Defying history is what this campaign has been about,” Sanders said on Tuesday, but at this point he’s also defying his own values — and, just maybe, bolstering the prospects of the candidate who is the anti-Sanders.
I understand the passion and heartache of his followers, but I watched such idealism help elect Nixon and George W. Bush, and I flinch at the thought of similar idealists this year helping to elect a President Trump.
© 2016 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/09/opinion/sanders-clinton-and-er-president-trump.html [with comments]
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Sanders Writes a Chapter in the Behavioral Science Textbook
Echo chamber.
Photographer: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
By Cass R. Sunstein
June 9, 2016 9:34 AM EDT
Bernie Sanders won't be the Democratic presidential nominee, yet so far he refuses to concede to Hillary Clinton, pledging [ http://time.com/4361146/bernie-sanders-democratic-primary-speech-transcript/ ] to "continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can get.” This is more than just stubbornness: Even if he bows out soon, Sanders and his supporters appear to believe more strongly than ever that the system is rigged against him and that Clinton is a captive of the banks -- and that Democratic voters have been rising up in support of his “political revolution, ” regardless of the actual vote count.
What happened? The Sanders campaign has become a classic example of the phenomenon of “group polarization,” arguably more so than any campaign in recent memory -- even Donald Trump's, which has greatly benefited from the same phenomenon.
Research on group polarization finds that when like-minded people get together, they will tend to go to extremes. If group members favor Britain leaving the European Union, or an increase in the minimum wage, or stricter sentences for drug offenses, their conversations with one another will lead them to greater extremism. Echo chambers are a breeding ground for polarization -- and political campaigns often end up as echo chambers, especially in their late stages.
Part of what drives group polarization is that people care about their reputations: If people in your group think that climate change isn’t occurring, or that Clinton is a captive of the banks, you risk their good will if you disagree. And if people hide their private misgivings, and don’t tell others what they think, the group as a whole is likely to end up in a more extreme position.
That promotes another dynamic behind group polarization: lopsided information. If most people in your group think that the minimum wage should be increased, you’ll hear a lot of arguments in favor of increasing it, and you won’t hear many arguments the other way. And if people are listening to one another, they are likely to be moved in the direction of increasing the minimum wage, simply because those are the dominant arguments within the group.
Which brings us to Sanders. Many of his supporters are intensely committed to him, and they listen mostly to one another. At this point in time, it’s not exactly comfortable for them to say, to one another or to the candidate, that Clinton could be a fine president, even a great one, or that she is animated by many of the same values as Sanders. From his closest friends and advisers, Sanders is probably hearing a lot less of that than he should.
Even more important, the pressures of group polarization suggest that within the Sanders campaign, people have been spreading information that puts Clinton in the least favorable light, one that most sharpens the contrast with Sanders. Instead of seeing the two as representing different strands of the party, Sanders supporters have increasingly argued that their own candidate is on the side of the American people while Clinton isn’t. In those circumstances, is it any wonder that Sanders has been reluctant to terminate his campaign?
It’s true, of course, that after investing heart and soul, many presidential candidates are reluctant to bring things to a halt. It’s also true that Sanders is not exactly famous for his willingness to yield or to take a step back. But his improbably successful campaign has been spurred and energized by group polarization -- and you can’t explain his otherwise baffling persistence without reference to the potentially destructive effects of the political echo chamber.
Cass R. Sunstein, the former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, is the Robert Walmsley university professor at Harvard Law School and a Bloomberg View columnist.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
To contact the author of this story:
Cass R Sunstein at csunstein1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Flavelle at cflavelle@bloomberg.net
©2016 Bloomberg L.P.
http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-09/sanders-writes-a-chapter-in-the-behavioral-science-textbook [with comments]
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Warren: I'm ready to get in this fight for Hillary Clinton
The Rachel Maddow Show
6/9/16
Senator Elizabeth Warren offers her endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president of the United States, and talks with Rachel Maddow about the Democratic primary and her objections to Donald Trump. Duration: 10:42
Elizabeth Warren Endorses Hillary Clinton on Rachel Maddow Show
Jun 9 2016
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/elizabeth-warren-endorse-clinton-rachel-maddow-show-n589236 [with this segment and another video embedded, and comments]
Elizabeth Warren Endorses Clinton and Goes Taunt-for-Taunt With Trump
JUNE 9, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-hillary-clinton-donald-trump.html [with embedded video clip, and comments]
Elizabeth Warren is ready – in more ways than one
06/10/16
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/elizabeth-warren-ready-more-ways-one [with this segment embedded, and comments]
Clinton, In Bid For Party Unity, Holds Meeting With Warren
06/10/2016 Updated Jun 10, 2016
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/warren-to-meet-with-clinton_us_575ab83ee4b0e39a28ad4d01 [with comments]
©2016 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/warren-i-m-ready-to-get-in-this-fight-702681155566 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVxQ9B4pVWk [with comments] [show transcript at http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2016-06-09 ]
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Warren: No VP conversations with Clinton
The Rachel Maddow Show
6/9/16
Senator Elizabeth Warren talks with Rachel Maddow about whether she has heard from the Clinton campaign about a possible running mate role, and how the Democratic primary process helped shift the political landscape. Duration: 13:05
©2016 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/warren-no-vp-conversations-with-clinton-702686787777 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w4wzAmEDsE [with comments] [show transcript at http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2016-06-09 ]
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Elizabeth Warren's Secret Endorsement of Bernie Sanders
Published on Feb 1, 2016 by The Young Turks [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1yBKRuGpC1tSM73A0ZjYjQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks/videos , http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks/videos ]
Elizabeth Warren has not officially endorsed either Bernie Sanders nor Hillary Clinton. The timing and content of her recent speech indicate that she would much prefer Bernie. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
"Elizabeth Warren (remember her?) has so far withheld an endorsement in the Democratic presidential primary, though there’s little doubt where her loyalty lies. After all, it was the decision by the Massachusetts senator to forego a run that compelled her neighbor to the north, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, to pick up her populist critique and carry it into the race against Hillary Clinton. Sanders has since built the message — of hostility toward what he frames as entrenched corporatism and the campaign finance system that sustains it — into a bona fide grassroots movement. Now on the eve of his first test against Clinton, in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, Warren is reemerging. What she’s offering in lieu of an endorsement is a more nuanced argument for Sanders than the one he’s made for himself.
Last week, on the sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, Warren took the Senate floor to decry it for allowing dark money to flood back into campaigns. She didn’t mention Sanders by name, but as she concluded, she channeled him: “A new presidential election is upon us,” she said. “Anyone who shrugs and claims that change is just too hard has crawled into bed with the billionaires who want to run this country like some private club.””*
*Read more here: http://fortune.com/2016/01/30/elizabeth-warren-on-bernie-sanders-and-corporate-criminals/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJQdBaeGQOg [with comments]
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Our Next Vice President?
Published on Feb 9, 2016 by The Young Turks
Will Progressive champion Senator Elizabeth Warren join the Democratic ticket as Vice President? The Young Turks panel of Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola and Ben Mankiewicz discuss why Bernie Sanders should pick Senator Warren as his VP. Warren for VP! Do you agree with TYT's opinion? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiCY3MKoiZw [with comments]
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Elizabeth Warren Asked About Hillary Clinton & It's Devastating
Published on Feb 28, 2015 by The Young Turks
"It's no secret that Hillary Clinton badly wants the approval of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (and the liberal wing of the party she represents) in advance of the former Secretary of State's near-certain 2016 bid. There was the meeting between the two at Clinton's DC house back in December and the various rhetorical bows Clinton has made to Warren's populist rhetoric over the past few months.
Given that recent history, what Warren had to say about Clinton during an appearance on Al Sharpton's MSNBC show Tuesday night has to be disappointing to Clintonworld. Here's the exchange:
Sharpton: A lot of progressives have questions about whether she'll [Hillary Clinton] be a progressive warrior. what would you say to them?
Warren: You know, I think that's what we gotta see. I want to hear what she wants to run on and what she says she wants to do. that's what campaigns are supposed to be about."*
Um, ok. If you look up the definition of "lukewarm," you find Warren's statement."* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
*Read more here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/25/elizabeth-warrens-answer-on-hillary-clintons-liberal-credentials-wasnt-convincing-at-all/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsa7fd3YC7w [with comments]
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Elizabeth Warren Endorses Hillary Clinton
Published on Jun 8, 2016 by The Young Turks
In the aftermath of the California primary, Elizabeth Warren is reported to be ready to endorse Hillary Clinton. Progressives are disappointed in Warren for not endorsing Bernie Sanders. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
“NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren will soon endorse presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and, while not currently interested in serving as her running mate, has not ruled it out, several sources close to Warren told Reuters.
Advisers to Warren, a fiery critic of Wall Street and a popular figure among progressive Democrats, have been in close contact with Clinton’s campaign team and the conversations have increased in frequency in recent weeks, the sources said.
Warren, 66, represents her home state of Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate. The sources said that foremost in her thinking is how best to help the Democratic Party defeat the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election and advance issues such as income inequality which top Warren’s agenda.
An endorsement of Clinton could come within a week or two, one of the sources said. Clinton has been appealing for Democratic Party unity. On Twitter over the weekend, Warren echoed that call and emphasized the importance of the party coming together to beat Trump.
“Get ready, Donald,” she tweeted. “We’re coming.”*
*Read more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elizabeth-warren-hillary-clinton-endorsement_us_5758a27ae4b0ced23ca6ffec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs8QqAtrh9c [with (nearly 4,000) comments]
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Will Bernie Voters Back Hillary In General Election? (POLL)
Published on Jun 8, 2016 by The Young Turks
We’ve talked about what the media and politicians think of Bernie Sanders, but now we want to know what you’re thinking. Will you vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election if Bernie Sanders is not an option? Let us know in our poll. Cenk Uygur and John Iadarola (ThinkTank), hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
"“I will never support Hillary Clinton,” said Adam Burch, 28, of Minneapolis. “I identify as a socialist. She stands for everything that I’m against. It’s Bernie or nothing.”
Burch isn’t alone. He’s part of a group on social media called Grassroots Action for Bernie that has promised to support only Sanders in the election, using the hashtag “BernieorBust” to spread its message. Similarly, 50,000 people have signed an online pledge to write in Sanders’ name or vote for the Green Party candidate in the general election if the former Secretary of State wins the nomination...
Many of Sanders’ voters say they have felt slighted by the Democratic Party, pointing to DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s support for Clinton in 2008 and her investigation into the DNC voter files a week ahead of the Iowa caucuses, which they believe was an effort to undermine Sanders’ chances at the nomination.”*
*Read more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-supporters-wont-vote-hillary_us_56d7571ae4b0871f60edb9fe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5pYdQlwM-A [with (over 5,000) comments]
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Will Bernie Fans Vote For Hillary? (Poll RESULTS)
Published on Jun 9, 2016 by The Young Turks
We asked you if you’d vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election. The results are now in: no. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
View original video to vote in poll here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5pYdQlwM-A [just above]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwOIY3p30-c [with (over 5,000) comments]
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Progressive Warrior Elizabeth Warren Destroyed By The Establishment?
Published on Jun 10, 2016 by The Young Turks
Is Senator Elizabeth Warren still a REAL Progressive, has she been corrupted by Washington D.C.? How does Elizabeth Warren, someone who fought the banks endorse Hillary Clinton who is so in the pocket of the banking industry? Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, Jimmy Dore and Mark Thompson discuss on The Young Turks power panel. Do you agree with TYT’s opinion? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMCFYzSOwhQ [with comments]
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Vice President Elizabeth Warren?
Published on Jun 10, 2016 by The Young Turks
Rumors are abound that Elizabeth Warren endorsed Hillary Clinton in order to get added to the 2016 ticket as Vice President. Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, Jimmy Dore and Mark Thompson discuss on The Young Turks power panel. Do you agree with TYT’s opinion? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
“Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton met privately Friday morning, according to two knowledgeable Democrats, just hours after the Massachusetts senator formally endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee.
The sit-down is fueling speculation about Warren’s prospects as a potential vice presidential pick.
The women have had several conversations over the past month, including one that lasted around half an hour, sources told The Washington Post. The conversations were broad and focused on large topics and issues, rather than the nitty-gritty of the campaign. Their staffs have been engaged in more tactical discussions.”*
*Read more here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/06/10/warren-to-meet-with-clinton-this-morning-fueling-vp-speculation/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ylMmlIhrfg [with comments]
*
Elizabeth Warren On MSNBC: I'm Ready To Fight For Hillary Clinton
Published on Jun 10, 2016 by The Young Turks
Why Did Elizabeth Warren endorse Hillary Clinton on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC? Are Bernie Sanders supporters right to be angry with Senator Elizabeth Warren? Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, Jimmy Dore and Mark Thompson discuss on The Young Turks power panel. Do you agree with TYT’s opinion? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
“Senator Elizabeth Warren ended months of neutrality in the Democratic primary Thursday and endorsed Hillary Clinton, urging supporters of Bernie Sanders to get behind the presumptive nominee and help defeat Donald Trump.
Warren’s endorsement followed President Obama’s by just a few hours, but it could be equally as important in rallying a liberal base that is suspicious of Clinton because of her warm relations with Wall Street and a track record of supporting international free trade deals.
“I’m ready,” Warren said in an interview with The Globe. “I’m ready to jump in this fight and make sure that Hillary Clinton is the next president of the United States and be sure that Donald Trump gets nowhere near the White House.””*
*Read more here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/06/09/elizabeth-warren-endorse-hillary-clinton-msnbc-tonight/QrjxIM24ZY7EbiXDb9mMAN/story.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0gXSMLdzzc [with comments]
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Elizabeth Warren Hurt America by Endorsing Hillary Clinton and not Bernie Sanders
Published on Jun 10, 2016 by H. A. Goodman [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDB5XReUyyqt-FTNdkzFN-A , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDB5XReUyyqt-FTNdkzFN-A/videos ]
My name is H. A. Goodman and I’m an author, columnist, and journalist www.hagoodman.com This segment relates to my latest MSNBC appearance https://www.facebook.com/hagoodman.journalist/videos/263154734036649/
My 2014 Huffington Post article about Warren as president http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/elizabeth-warren-not-hill_b_5491171.html
My article in The Hill about Warren as president
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/236935-democrats-need-elizabeth-warren
My article in Salon about Bernie and Warren
http://www.salon.com/2016/02/09/hillary_clintons_political_machine_has_been_busted_thanks_to_bernie_sanders_and_elizabeth_warren/
I’ve written more, on my website.
Also, the White House OFFICIALLY called Clinton’s FBI email probe a “criminal investigation” http://dailycaller.com/2016/06/09/white-house-fbi-investigation-into-hillary-is-criminal-video/
And http://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2016/06/09/white-house-admits-fbi-probe-of-hillarys-emails-is-a-criminal-investigation-n2176225
Yes, President Obama and Senator Warren endorsed a presidential candidate under “criminal investigation”
Immediately after endorsing Clinton, President Obama met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2016/06/09/obama-endorses-hillary-immediately-meets-with-loretta-lynch-n2176214
Obama didn’t want Clinton as Secretary of State, and Christopher Hitchens explained in 2008 that she wasn’t qualified—Hitchens was right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CrYBhFREtw
Also…
CNN International appearances:
http://www.snappytv.com/tc/1571174
http://www.snappytv.com/tc/1571164
CNN New Day appearance:
https://www.facebook.com/hagoodman.journalist/posts/219016788450444?notif_t=like
Why is Clinton even more frightening than our national embarrassment, Trump?
Clinton’s emails had intel from at least 5 American intelligence agencies: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-hillary-clintons-emails-included-data-from-five-intelligence-agencies/
Clinton had 22 Top Secret emails with SAP intelligence on her server, in addition to North Korean Nuclear intelligence:
“The other concerned North Korean nuclear weapons programs, according to officials.” http://www.cbsnews.com/news/22-top-secret-hillary-clinton-emails-wont-be-released/
“WASHINGTON — A special intelligence review of two emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton received as secretary of state on her personal account — including one about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/us/politics/second-review-says-classified-information-was-in-hillary-clintons-email.html
Clinton has National Geospatial Agency satellite photos, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-clinton-emails-idUSMTZSAPEC2O2MGLXL
And… “The NGA has also been a key player in analyzing radar and overhead imagery of Iran’s nuclear facilities.” https://news.clearancejobs.com/2013/03/22/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-national-geospatial-intelligence-agency/
NGA also has advanced satellite maps of nuclear weapons programs https://www.nga.mil/MediaRoom/PressReleases/Pages/Antineutrino.aspx
“While the National Security Agency eavesdrops on telephone conversations of Iranian officials and conducts other forms of electronic surveillance, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency analyzes radar imagery and digital images of nuclear sites.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/world/middleeast/iran-intelligence-crisis-showed-difficulty-of-assessing-nuclear-data.html Clinton’s server was unencrypted and terrorists today can hack into computers “Terrorists have shown interest in pursuing hacking skills,” Mr. Mueller said Wednesday in written testimony to a House appropriations subcommittee reviewing the bureau’s budget. “And they may seek to train their own recruits or hire outsiders, with an eye toward pursuing cyberattacks.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/us/fbi-director-warns-about-terrorist-hacking.html HRC advised by neocons http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/opinion/sunday/are-neocons-getting-ready-to-ally-with-hillary-clinton.html Neocons in a Clinton White House http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-trump-panicking-robert-kagan-15329 Trump less hawkish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSEehau09l4 [with comments] [and see in particular (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123061076 and preceding and following,
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=120649949 and preceding (and any future following),
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=119554294 and preceding and following]
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Hillary Clinton Spoke About Reproductive Justice In A Genuinely Intersectional Way
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton with Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, on June 10, 2016 in Washington.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
And she called out Republican hypocrisy on abortion and paid leave.
By Samantha Lachman
06/10/2016 04:50 pm ET | Updated June 13, 2016
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton’s first speech since she won a majority of pledged delegates [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-2016_us_57578847e4b08f74f6c09657 ] in the Democratic presidential race included remarks about how abortion relates to other issues. That’s groundbreaking for a presidential candidate.
The term “reproductive justice” was promoted by the grassroots women of color collective SisterSong [ http://www.trustblackwomen.org/our-work/what-is-reproductive-justice/9-what-is-reproductive-justice ] over a decade ago to describe “the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, social, and economic well-being” of a person. This means considering a broad array of factors [ https://www.law.berkeley.edu/php-programs/courses/fileDL.php?fID=4051 ] that affect a person’s ability to have, not have and/or raise children.
At a Planned Parenthood Action Fund membership event on Friday, Clinton discussed restrictions on abortion access [ https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2016/01/last-five-years-account-more-one-quarter-all-abortion-restrictions-enacted-roe ] and state [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/planned-parenthood-funding_us_5616d54fe4b0082030a1c100 ] and federal-level [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/congress-votes-defund-planned-parenthood_us_568d5a67e4b0cad15e62fda6 ] attempts to defund Planned Parenthood. She reiterated her commitment to repealing the Hyde Amendment [ http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/01/11/why_hillary_clinton_s_call_out_of_the_hyde_amendment_is_so_important.html ], which prevents Medicaid from funding abortions for low-income people. And she noted that the Supreme Court is set to rule by the end of June [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/supreme-court-abortion-rights_us_56d6f857e4b0871f60ed48e6 ] on laws passed by the GOP-controlled Texas legislature that would leave the state with 10 or fewer abortion clinics — and could lead to closed clinics in other states.
“For too long, issues like these have been dismissed by many as ‘women’s issues’ – as though that somehow makes them less worthy, secondary,” Clinton said. “Well, yes, these are women’s issues. They’re also family issues. They’re economic issues. They’re justice issues. They’re fundamental to our country and our future.”
Then, she noted that reproductive rights are inextricable from other progressive priorities, like raising the minimum wage, passing comprehensive immigration reform and equal pay laws, preventing gun violence and challenging systemic racism.
“All the issues we’re talking about today are connected,” she said. “They intersect. And that’s why I’m grateful to the reproductive justice leaders in this room and across America. Because you know that all those issues go straight to that fundamental question: whether we believe women and families of all races and backgrounds and income levels deserve an equal shot in life.”
Clinton’s speech was a powerful reminder that the concept of “choice” is hollow for low-income people who may not actually have a choice when it comes to terminating their pregnancies because they can’t afford an abortion.
“Let’s repeal laws like the Hyde Amendment that make it nearly impossible for low-income women — disproportionately women of color — to exercise their full reproductive rights,” she said.
The Democratic Party platform advocated for access to abortion “regardless of ability to pay” in 2012, but reproductive justice advocates have had trouble convincing Democrats to expend the political capital necessary to push for the Hyde Amendment’s repeal in a Republican-controlled Congress.
Clinton also noted the hypocrisy of Republicans who would simultaneously force pregnancy upon women who do not want to remain pregnant while opposing guaranteed paid family leave and policies that would help reduce unintended pregnancy in the first place. The United States is the only developed country in the world that does not guarantee some period of paid family leave for new parents.
“Have you ever noticed that the same politicians who are against sex education, birth control and safe and legal abortion are also against policies that would make it easier to raise a child — like paid family leave?” she asked.
A large portion of Clinton’s speech was dedicated to attacking the GOP’s presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, for his misogyny [ http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/03/donald_trump_has_one_core_philosophy_misogyny.html ] and for his promise to defund Planned Parenthood [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-planned-parenthood_us_56c9cff0e4b0928f5a6c3b38 ] and appoint Supreme Court justices who would support overturning Roe v. Wade [ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/05/11/trump-scotus-nominee-overturn-roe-v-wade/84223512/ ], the landmark decision that legalized abortion.
But what may ultimately be more significant is that Clinton showed how a high-level, mainstream Democrat can unapologetically explain why repealing the Hyde Amendment matters, even when Republicans will inevitably attack her for supporting “taxpayer-funded abortion [ https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/hillary-clinton-calls-for-taxpayer-funded-abortions-video ]” in the general election.
Copyright © 2016 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-planned-parenthood_us_575b08dae4b0ced23ca7fe7e [with comments] [the above YouTube of Clinton's speech at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaTpuVzGbwI (no comments yet), others at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_3HyTx0DqQ (no comments yet), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQnF9zbRoGI (with comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zogQLkLZEzM (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-5ZVHcm-2M (slightly clipped at the start; with comments)]
===
Hillary Clinton picks up another big endorsement
In March 2015, the Rev. Jesse Jackson attends a civil rights anniversary event in Selma, Ala. On Saturday, Jackson endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in Chicago.
June 11, 2016
The Rev. Jesse Jackson announced his support for Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in a Saturday afternoon news conference with reporters in Chicago and called for "reconciliation" between her and her rival, Bernie Sanders.
Jackson, 74, recalled meeting Clinton in the Mississippi Delta and cited her work with the Children’s Defense Fund and, later, in the White House for a comprehensive health-care system.
“We trust her to work on health care, to fight for the poor,” said Jackson, with a couple of sheets of note paper in his hand. “We trust her to fight in the defense of children.”
Jackson said he had the "highest regard for Bernie," recalling Sanders's support for him during his own presidential campaign, and praising Sanders for his work on Wall Street reform and for a $15 hourly minimum wage.
[...]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/11/hillary-clinton-picks-up-another-big-endorsement/ [with comments]
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Bernie Sanders Refuses to Concede Nomination to Hillary Clinton
Senator Bernie Sanders in San Francisco this month. Mr. Sanders said he and Hillary Clinton plan to meet on Tuesday.
JUNE 12, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign.html
===
President Obama Hosts a Reception for LGBT Pride Month
Published on Jun 9, 2016 by The White House [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYxRlFDqcWM4y7FfpiAN3KQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse , http://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse/videos ]
The White House
*
Remarks by the President at LGBT Pride Reception
East Room
June 09, 2016
5:11 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! (Applause.) Hello, hello, hello! (Applause.) Good to see you. Hello! Well, welcome to the White House.
Let me first of all -- let me acknowledge some outstanding public servants who are here. We’ve got Secretary of the Army, Eric Fanning is in the house. (Applause.) Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg is here. (Applause.) We’ve got some amazing members of Congress -- no one who has done more on behalf of justice and equality than former Speaker and, perhaps soon to be Speaker again, Nancy Pelosi. (Applause.) We love Nancy.
So this is the eighth Pride reception that we will celebrate together. (Applause.) I want to begin by saying thank you to all the people that -- I’m looking out in the audience; I see some new friends but a lot of old friends, folks who have been with us through thick and thin. And I am grateful for all that you’ve done to work with us to accomplish some amazing transformations over these last seven and a half years. (Applause.)
So every year, we set aside this month to celebrate the ways that so many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans have helped to make our union just a little more perfect. We honor the countless nameless heroes who paved the way for progress: The activists who marched. The advocates who organized. The lawyers who argued cases. The families who stood by their loved ones, even when it was tough. Every brave American who came out and spoke out, especially when it was tough. Because of them, because of all of you, there’s a lot to be proud of today.
Today, we live in an America where “don’t ask, don’t tell” don’t exist no more. (Applause.) Because no one should have to hide who they love in order to serve the country that they love. We live in an America that protects all of us with a hate crimes law that bears the name of Matthew Shepard. (Applause.) We live in an America where all of us are treated more equally, because visiting hours in hospitals no longer depend on who you are -- (applause) -- and insurance companies can no longer turn somebody away simply because of who you love.
Thanks to heroes like Edith Windsor and Jim -- I always get Jim’s name -- (laughter) -- Jim knows I love him, but I never know where to put the emphasis -- Obergefell -- (applause) -- generations of couples who insisted that love is love, we now live in an America where all of our marriages and our families are recognized as equal under the law. And that’s an extraordinary thing. When you talk to the upcoming generation, our kids -- Malia’s, Sasha’s generation -- they instinctively know people are people and families are families. And discrimination, it’s so last century. (Laughter.) It’s so passé. It doesn’t make sense to them. (Applause.) So we live in an America where the laws are finally catching up to the hearts of kids and what they instinctively understand.
So some folks never imagined we’d come this far -- maybe even some in this room. Change can be slow. And I know that there have been times where at least some of the people in this room have yelled at me. (Laughter.) But together, we’ve proven that change is possible, that progress is possible.
It’s not inevitable, though. History doesn’t just travel forward; it can go backwards if we don’t work hard. So we can’t be complacent. (Applause.) We cannot be complacent. Securing the gains this country has made requires perseverance and vigilance. And it requires voting. Because we’ve got more work to do. (Applause.)
We still have more work to do when gay and bisexual men make up two-thirds of new HIV cases in our country. We have to work hard to make sure that jobs are not being denied, people aren’t being fired because of their sexual orientation. We still have work to do when transgender persons are attacked, even killed for just being who they are. We’ve got work to do when LGBT people around the world still face incredible isolation and poverty and persecution and violence, and even death. We have work to make sure that every single child, no matter who they are or where they come from or what they look like or how they live, feels welcomed and valued and loved.
So we’re going to have to keep on pushing. And that’s the work of all of us. The great and often unsung civil rights hero Bayard Rustin once said, “We need in every community a group of angelic troublemakers.” (Laughter and applause.)
And that’s what I see here tonight -– people who aren’t afraid to ruffle feathers in the name of justice and equality until we extend the full promise of America to every single one of us. And that’s always been our story -- not just in Selma or Seneca Falls, but in Compton’s Café and the Stonewall Inn. It’s the story of brave Americans who were willing to risk everything –- not just their own liberty or dignity, but also doing it on behalf of the dignity and liberty of generations to come. They understood a truth that lies at the heart of this nation: When all Americans are treated equal, we’re all more free.
And that’s what should give us hope. Despite our differences and our divisions, and the many complicated issues that we grapple with, real change is possible. Minds open. Hearts change. America shifts. And if the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that people who love their country can change it.
One of the most special moments of my presidency was that warm summer night last June when we lit up the White House out there. (Applause.) It was a powerful symbol here at home, where more Americans finally felt accepted and whole, and that their country recognized the love that they felt. It was a beacon for people around the world who are still fighting for those rights. It was a reminder that when the change we seek comes, and when we move a little bit further on our journey toward equality and justice, we still have a responsibility to reach back and help pull up others who are striving to do the same.
So enjoy tonight. Have some champagne -- some of you already have, I can tell. (Laughter.) Tomorrow, we get back to work. (Applause.) And by the way, we get back to work not just fighting on behalf of justice and equality for the LGBT community, but for everybody. (Applause.) Because one of the -- if you’ve felt the sting of discrimination, then you don't just fight to end discrimination for yourself, you've got to fight for the poor kid who needs opportunity. You need to fight for the working mom who can't pay the bills. You’ve got to fight for some young woman on the other side of the world who can't get an education. It can't just be about us. It’s about we, and what we can do together. (Applause.)
So I’m very proud to have fought alongside you. We’ve got more miles in the journey, and I’m so glad that we're going to be traveling that road together.
Thank you very much, everybody. (Applause.)
END
5:20 P.M. EDT
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/09/remarks-president-lgbt-pride-reception
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wceEYhDvPdk [with comments], [embedded at https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2016/06/09/president-obama-hosts-reception-lgbt-pride-month
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President Obama Delivers a Statement
Published on Jun 12, 2016 by The White House
The White House
*
Remarks by the President on Mass Shooting in Orlando
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
June 12, 2016
1:59 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Today, as Americans, we grieve the brutal murder -- a horrific massacre -- of dozens of innocent people. We pray for their families, who are grasping for answers with broken hearts. We stand with the people of Orlando, who have endured a terrible attack on their city. Although it’s still early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate. And as Americans, we are united in grief, in outrage, and in resolve to defend our people.
I just finished a meeting with FBI Director Comey and my homeland security and national security advisors. The FBI is on the scene and leading the investigation, in partnership with local law enforcement. I’ve directed that the full resources of the federal government be made available for this investigation.
We are still learning all the facts. This is an open investigation. We’ve reached no definitive judgment on the precise motivations of the killer. The FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terrorism. And I’ve directed that we must spare no effort to determine what -- if any -- inspiration or association this killer may have had with terrorist groups. What is clear is that he was a person filled with hatred. Over the coming days, we’ll uncover why and how this happened, and we will go wherever the facts lead us.
This morning I spoke with my good friend, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, and I conveyed the condolences of the entire American people. This could have been any one of our communities. So I told Mayor Dyer that whatever help he and the people of Orlando need -- they are going to get it. As a country, we will be there for the people of Orlando today, tomorrow and for all the days to come.
We also express our profound gratitude to all the police and first responders who rushed into harm’s way. Their courage and professionalism saved lives, and kept the carnage from being even worse. It’s the kind of sacrifice that our law enforcement professionals make every single day for all of us, and we can never thank them enough.
This is an especially heartbreaking day for all our friends -- our fellow Americans -- who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The shooter targeted a nightclub where people came together to be with friends, to dance and to sing, and to live. The place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub -- it is a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds, and to advocate for their civil rights.
So this is a sobering reminder that attacks on any American -- regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation -- is an attack on all of us and on the fundamental values of equality and dignity that define us as a country. And no act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans.
Today marks the most deadly shooting in American history. The shooter was apparently armed with a handgun and a powerful assault rifle. This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well.
In the coming hours and days, we’ll learn about the victims of this tragedy. Their names. Their faces. Who they were. The joy that they brought to families and to friends, and the difference that they made in this world. Say a prayer for them and say a prayer for their families -- that God give them the strength to bear the unbearable. And that He give us all the strength to be there for them, and the strength and courage to change. We need to demonstrate that we are defined more -- as a country -- by the way they lived their lives than by the hate of the man who took them from us.
As we go together, we will draw inspiration from heroic and selfless acts -- friends who helped friends, took care of each other and saved lives. In the face of hate and violence, we will love one another. We will not give in to fear or turn against each other. Instead, we will stand united, as Americans, to protect our people, and defend our nation, and to take action against those who threaten us.
May God bless the Americans we lost this morning. May He comfort their families. May God continue to watch over this country that we love. Thank you.
END
2:04 P.M. EDT
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/12/remarks-president-mass-shooting-orlando
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntF-ieEOgkM [with (over 7,000) comments], [embedded at] https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2016/06/12/president-obama-delivers-statement
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President Obama Speaks on the Shooting in Orlando
Published on Jun 13, 2016 by The White House
The White House
*
Remarks by the President After Briefing on the Attack in Orlando, Florida
Oval Office
June 13, 2016
11:13 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: I just had the opportunity to get the latest briefing from FBI Director Comey, as well as Deputy Attorney General Yates and the rest of my national security team about the tragedy that took place in Orlando. They’re going to be doing a more extensive briefing around noon -- just a little bit after noon over at FBI headquarters. So I will allow them to go into all the details, but I thought it was important for you to hear directly from me.
First of all, our hearts go out to the families of those who have been killed. Our prayers go to those who have been wounded. This is a devastating attack on all Americans. It is one that is particularly painful for the people of Orlando, but I think we all recognize that this could have happened anywhere in this country. And we feel enormous solidarity and grief on behalf of the families that have been affected.
The fact that it took place at a club frequented by the LGBT community I think is also relevant. We’re still looking at all the motivations of the killer. But it’s a reminder that regardless of race, religion, faith or sexual orientation, we’re all Americans, and we need to be looking after each other and protecting each other at all times in the face of this kind of terrible act.
With respect to the killer, there’s been a lot of reporting that’s been done. It’s important to emphasize that we’re still at the preliminary stages of the investigation, and there’s a lot more that we have to learn. The one thing that we can say is that this is being treated as a terrorist investigation. It appears that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the Internet. All those materials are currently being searched, exploited so we will have a better sense of the pathway that the killer took in making the decision to launch this attack.
As Director Comey I think will indicate, at this stage we see no clear evidence that he was directed externally. It does appear that, at the last minute, he announced allegiance to ISIL, but there is no evidence so far that he was in fact directed by ISIL. And there also at this stage is no direct evidence that he was part of a larger plot. In that sense, it appears to be similar to what we saw in San Bernardino, but we don’t yet know. And this is part of what is going to be important in terms of the investigation.
As far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time. It also appears that he was able to obtain these weapons legally because he did not have a criminal record that, in some ways, would prohibit him from purchasing these weapons. It appears that one of those weapons he was able to just carry out of the store -- an assault rifle, a handgun -- a Glock -- which had a lot of clips in it. He was apparently required to wait for three days under Florida law. But it does indicate the degree to which it was not difficult for him to obtain these kinds of weapons.
Director Comey will discuss the fact that there had been some investigation of him in the past that was triggered, but as Director Comey I think will indicate, the FBI followed the procedures that they were supposed to and did a proper job.
At the end of the day, this is something that we are going to have to grapple with -- making sure that even as we go after ISIL and other extremist organizations overseas, even as we hit their leadership, even as we go after their infrastructure, even as we take key personnel off the field, even as we disrupt external plots -- that one of the biggest challenges we are going to have is this kind of propaganda and perversions of Islam that you see generated on the Internet, and the capacity for that to seep into the minds of troubled individuals or weak individuals, and seeing them motivated then to take actions against people here in the United States and elsewhere in the world that are tragic. And so countering this extremist ideology is increasingly going to be just as important as making sure that we are disrupting more extensive plots engineered from the outside.
We are also going to have to have to make sure that we think about the risks we are willing to take by being so lax in how we make very powerful firearms available to people in this country. And this is something that obviously I’ve talked about for a very long time.
My concern is that we start getting into a debate, as has happened in the past, which is an either/or debate. And the suggestion is either we think about something as terrorism and we ignore the problems with easy access to firearms, or it’s all about firearms and we ignore the role -- the very real role that that organizations like ISIL have in generating extremist views inside this country. And it’s not an either/or. It’s a both/and.
We have to go after these terrorist organizations and hit them hard. We have to counter extremism. But we also have to make sure that it is not easy for somebody who decides they want to harm people in this country to be able to obtain weapons to get at them.
And my hope is, is that over the next days and weeks that we are being sober about how we approach this problem, that we let the facts get determined by our investigators, but we also do some reflecting in terms of how we can best tackle what is going to be a very challenging problem not just here in this country, but around the world.
Again, my final point is just to extend our deepest sympathies to the families of those who were affected and to send our prayers to those who are surviving and are in hospitals right now, and their family members hoping that they get better very soon.
But in the meantime, you can anticipate sometime around noon that Director Comey and Deputy Attorney General Yates will provide you with a more full briefing about this. Okay?
Q Mr. President, is there anything more to the LBGT angle to this?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think we don't yet know the motivations. But here’s what we do know -- is organizations like ISIL or organizations like al Qaeda, or those who have perverted Islam and created these radical, nihilistic, vicious organizations, one of the groups that they target are gays and lesbians because they believe that they do not abide by their attitudes towards sexuality.
Now, we also know these are organizations that think it’s fine to take captive women and enslave them and rape them. So there clearly are connections between the attitudes in an organization like this and their attitudes towards tolerance and pluralism and a belief that all people are created equally regardless of sexual orientation. That is something threatening to them. Women being empowered is threatening to them.
So, yes, I’m sure we will find that there are connections -- regardless of the particular motivations of this killer -- there are connections between this vicious, bankrupt ideology and general attitudes towards gays and lesbians. And unfortunately, that’s something that the LGBT community is subject to not just by ISIL but by a lot of groups that purport to speak on behalf of God around the world.
Q What are your thoughts about the fact that after all of these incidents over these years, that there has not been any move to reform gun control in this country?
THE PRESIDENT: April, I think you know what I think about it. The fact that we make it this challenging for law enforcement, for example, even to get alerted that somebody who they are watching has purchased a gun -- and if they do get alerted, sometimes it’s hard for them to stop them from getting a gun -- is crazy. It’s a problem. And we have to, I think, do some soul-searching.
But again, the danger here is, is that then it ends up being the usual political debate. And the NRA and the gun control folks say that, oh, Obama doesn't want to talk about terrorism. And if you talk about terrorism, then people say why aren’t you looking at issues of gun control.
The point is, is that if we have self-radicalized individuals in this country, then they are going to be very difficult oftentimes to find ahead of time. And how easy it is for them to obtain weapons is, in some cases, going to make a difference as to whether they're able to carry out attacks like this or not. And we make it very easy for individuals who are troubled or disturbed or want to engage in violent acts to get very powerful weapons very quickly. And that's a problem.
It’s a problem regardless of their motivations. It’s a problem for a young man who can walk into a church in South Carolina and murder nine people who offered to pray with him. It’s a problem when an angry young man on a college campus decides to shoot people because he feels disrespected. It’s certainly a problem when we have organizations like ISIL or al Qaeda who are actively trying to promote violence and are doing so very effectively over the Internet, because we know that at some point there are going to be, out of 300 million people, there are going to be some individuals who find for whatever reason that kind of horrible propaganda enticing. And if that happens, and that person can get a weapon, that's a problem.
END
11:27 A.M. EDT
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/13/remarks-president-after-briefing-attack-orlando-florida
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPwsqFbtWvk [with comments], [embedded at] https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2016/06/13/president-obama-speaks-shooting-orlando
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FULL: Donald Trump Orlando Terrorism Speech 6/13/16
Published on Jun 13, 2016 by FOX 10 Phoenix [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJg9wBPyKMNA5sRDnvzmkdg , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJg9wBPyKMNA5sRDnvzmkdg/videos ]
Donald Trump outlines National Security concerns LIVE at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH 2:30 EST.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV40c4bPCrA [with comments] [also at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFIVXkJWzfA (with {over 5,000} comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_XOEVRcoSQ (with {over 4,000} comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puMUmdnRRCI (with comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogWTb4K7daQ (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpSJahRZ1fE (no comments yet)] [and see also in particular (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123283472 and preceding and following,
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123333782 and preceding and following]
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Former GOP senator endorses Clinton after Orlando shooting
By Tim Devaney
June 13, 2016, 05:43 pm
A former Republican senator is endorsing Hillary Clinton [ http://thehill.com/people/hillary-clinton ] for president after the mass shooting in Orlando, citing her support for gun control.
Former Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) called for universal background checks on all gun sales and an assault weapons ban Monday in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
“I can’t believe I’m endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, but I am,” said Pressler, who spoke with The Hill on Monday after endorsing Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in a statement issued over the weekend.
“This morning, I woke up and told my wife, ‘Did I really do that?’ ” he said. "But I did."
“If someone had told me 10 years ago I would do this, I wouldn’t have believed them."
Pressler, a moderate Republican who served three terms in the Senate before losing his seat to Democrat Tim Johnson [ http://thehill.com/people/tim-johnson ] in 1997, said he believes voting for Clinton is the “responsible thing to do.”
He said he feels disenfranchised by Donald Trump [ http://thehill.com/people/donald-trump ], the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and modern-day congressional Republicans who have opposed efforts to expand background checks for gun sales.
“We need to go the route of more gun control as a result of Orlando and all the other shootings that have occurred,” Pressler said. “But it’s almost as though Republicans are saying gun control shouldn’t be part of the conversation at all."
But gun control isn’t the only reason why Pressler is ready to join “Republicans for Clinton” — he’s also concerned about Trump’s rhetoric on Muslims.
“This election is starting to sound like the German elections in [the late 1920s],” Pressler said. “This is a very dangerous national conversation we’re slipping into.”
Pressler, a Mormon Sunday school teacher, said he understands all too well the dangers of singling out a particular religious group.
In 1838, Missouri Gov. Lilburn Boggs ordered Mormons to be killed, which forced many to leave the state before eventually resettling in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Trump makes “Mormons very nervous,” Pressler said.
"Mormons are the only religious group besides the Jews who have been ordered by the government to be extinguished, killed,” he said.
“The worst thing is for Republicans to be silent,” Pressler added. “A lot of Republicans are just saying, ‘I’ll sit it out, I won’t vote.’ Or, ‘I’ll vote for a third-party candidate.’ But if they don’t vote, they are giving more power to dark forces.”
©2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283330-former-gop-senator-endorses-clinton-after-orlando-shooting [with comments]
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President Obama Delivers a Statement to the Press
Published on Jun 14, 2016 by The White House
Washington, DC
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Remarks by the President After Counter-ISIL Meeting
Treasury Department
Washington, D.C.
June 14, 2016
12:18 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: I just met with my National Security Council as part of our regular effort to review and intensify our campaign to destroy the terrorist group ISIL. Our meeting was planned before the terrible attack in Orlando. But obviously that tragedy -- the awful loss of life -- shaped much of our work today. In all of our efforts, foremost in our minds is the loss and the grief of the people of Orlando -- those who died, those who are still recovering, the families who have seen their loved ones harmed, the friends of ours who are lesbian and gay and bisexual and transgender who were targeted. I want to remind them that they are not alone. The American people, and our allies and friends all over the world, stand with you and are thinking about you, and are praying for you.
As Director Comey has said, we currently do not have any information to indicate that a foreign terrorist group directed the attack in Orlando. It is increasingly clear, however, that the killer took in extremist information and propaganda over the Internet. He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized. As we know all too well, terrorist groups like ISIL have called on people around the world and here in the United States to attack innocent civilians. Their propaganda, their videos, their postings are pervasive and more easily accessible than we want. This individual appears to have absorbed some of that. And during his killing spree, the shooter in Orlando pledged allegiance to ISIL.
As I’ve said before, these lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent. But across our government, at every level -- federal, state and local, military and civilian -- we are doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of attacks. We work to succeed a hundred percent of the time. An attacker, as we saw in Orlando, only has to succeed once. Our extraordinary personnel -- our intelligence, our military, our homeland security, our law enforcement -- have prevented many attacks and saved many lives. And we can never thank them enough. But we are all sobered by the fact that, despite the extraordinary hard work, something like Orlando can occur.
In our meeting today, Director Comey updated us on the investigation in Orlando. Secretary Johnson reviewed the measures we continue to take on behalf of our homeland security. Secretary Carter and Chairman Dunford reviewed the military campaign against ISIL. And I want to thank Secretary Lew and his team here at Treasury for hosting us and for their tireless efforts to cut off the money that ISIL relies on to fund its terror network.
At the outset, I want to reiterate our objective in this fight. Our mission is to destroy ISIL. Since I last updated the American people on our campaign two months ago, we’ve seen that this continues to be a difficult fight -- but we are making significant progress. Over the past two months, I’ve authorized a series of steps to ratchet up our fight against ISIL: additional U.S. personnel, including Special Forces, in Syria to assist local forces battling ISIL there; additional advisors to work more closely with Iraqi security forces, and additional assets, including attack helicopters; and additional support for local forces in northern Iraq. Our aircraft continue to launch from the USS Harry Truman, now in the Mediterranean. Our B-52 bombers are hitting ISIL with precision strikes. Targets are being identified and hit even more quickly -- so far, 13,000 airstrikes. This campaign at this stage is firing on all cylinders.
And as a result, ISIL is under more pressure than ever before. ISIL continues to lose key leaders. This includes Salman Abd Shahib, a senior military leader in Mosul; Abu Sa’ad al-Sudani, who plotted external attacks; Shakir Wahayb, ISIL’s military leader in Iraq’s Anbar province; and Maher al-Bilawi, the top ISIL commander in Fallujah. So far, we’ve taken out more than 120 top ISIL leaders and commanders. And our message is clear: If you target America and our allies, you will not be safe. You will never be safe.
ISIL continues to lose ground in Iraq. In the past two months, local forces in Iraq, with coalition support, have liberated the western town of Rutbah and have also pushed up the Euphrates River Valley, liberating the strategic town of Hit and breaking the ISIL siege of Haditha. Iraqi forces have surrounded Fallujah and begun to move into the city. Meanwhile, in the north, Iraqi forces continue to push up the Tigris River Valley, making gains around Makhmour, and now preparing to tighten the noose around ISIL in Mosul. All told, ISIL has now lost nearly half of the populated territory that it once controlled in Iraq -- and it will lose more.
ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well. Assisted by our Special Operations Forces, a coalition of local forces is now pressuring the key town of Manbij, which means the noose is tightening around ISIL in Raqqa as well. In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is on defense. And it’s now been a full year since ISIL has been able to mount a major successful offensive operation in either Syria or Iraq.
As ISIL continues to lose territory, it also continues to lose the money that is its lifeblood. As a result of our strikes against its oil infrastructure and supply lines, we believe that we’ve cut ISIL’s revenue from oil by millions of dollars per month. In destroying the storage sites where they keep their cash, we’ve deprived ISIL of many millions more.
Thanks to the great work of Secretary Lew and many others here today -- and working with nations and financial institutions around the world -- ISIL is now effectively cut off from the international financial system. Cutting off ISIL’s money may not be as dramatic as military strikes, but it is critically important. And we’re seeing the results. ISIL’s cash reserves are down. It has had to cut salaries for its fighters. It’s resorting to more extortion of those trapped in its grip. And by ISIL’s own admission, some of its own leaders have been caught stealing cash and gold. Once again, ISIL’s true nature has been revealed: These are not religious warriors, they are thugs and they are thieves.
In continuing to push on this front, I want to mention that it is critical for our friends in the Senate to confirm Adam Szubin, my nominee for Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Adam has served in Democratic and Republican administrations. Everyone agrees he’s eminently qualified. He has been working on these kinds of issues for years. It’s now been more than a year since I nominated him -- more than 420 days -- and he still has not been given a full vote. There is no good reason for it. It is inexcusable. So it’s time for the Senate to do its job, put our national security first, and have a vote on Adam Szubin that can lead our financial fight against ISIL and help keep our country safe.
ISIL’s ranks are shrinking as well. Their morale is sinking. As one defender -- as one defector said, ISIL “is not bringing Islam to the world, and people need to know that.” Thanks to international efforts, the flow of foreign fighters -- including from America to Syria and Iraq -- has plummeted. In fact, our intelligence community now assesses that the ranks of ISIL fighters has been reduced to the lowest levels in more than two and half years.
Even as we continue to destroy ISIL militarily, we’re addressing the larger forces that have allowed these terrorists to gain traction in parts of the world. With regard to Iraq, this means helping Iraqis stabilize liberated communities and promote inclusive governance so ISIL cannot return.
With regard to Syria, it means our continued support for the fragile cessation of hostilities there. The cessation of hostilities has not stopped all or even most of the hardship on the Syrian people, the hardship on civilians. And the Assad regime has been the principal culprit in violating the cessation of hostilities. ISIL and al Nusra, which is al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, also continue to terrorize Syrians. But as fragile and incomplete as the cessation is, it has saved lives and it has allowed the delivery of some lifesaving aid to Syrians who are in desperate need. And as difficult as it is, we will continue to push for a political process that can end the civil war and result in a transition away from Assad.
Beyond Syria and Libya -- beyond Syria and Iraq, ISIL is also losing ground in Libya. Forces of the Libyan unity government are going after ISIL in their stronghold in Sirte. And we’ll continue to assist the new Libyan government as it works to secure its country.
Lastly, here at home, if we really want to help law enforcement protect Americans from homegrown extremists, the kind of tragedies that occurred at San Bernardino and that now have occurred in Orlando, there is a meaningful way to do that. We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents. It is absolutely true we cannot prevent every tragedy. But we know that, consistent with the Second Amendment, there are common-sense steps that could reduce gun violence and could reduce the lethality of somebody who intends to do other people harm. We should give ATF the resources they need to enforce the gun laws that we already have. People with possible ties to terrorism who aren't allowed on a plane shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun.
Enough talking about being tough on terrorism. Actually be tough on terrorism, and stop making it easy as possible for terrorists to buy assault weapons. Reinstate the assault weapons ban. Make it harder for terrorists to use these weapons to kill us. Otherwise, despite extraordinary efforts across our government by local law enforcement, by our intelligence agencies, by our military, despite all the sacrifices that folks make, these kinds of events are going to keep on happening. And the weapons are only going to get more powerful.
And let me make a final point. For a while now, the main contribution of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have made in the fight against ISIL is to criticize this administration and me for not using the phrase “radical Islam.” That’s the key, they tell us -- we can’t beat ISIL unless we call them “radical Islamists.” What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction. Since before I was President, I’ve been clear about how extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism. As President, I have repeatedly called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the world’s great religions.
There has not been a moment in my seven and a half years as President where we have not been able to pursue a strategy because we didn’t use the label "radical Islam." Not once has an advisor of mine said, man, if we really use that phrase, we're going to turn this whole thing around. Not once. So if someone seriously thinks that we don’t know who we're fighting, if there's anyone out there who thinks we're confused about who our enemies are, that would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who we've taken off the battlefield.
If the implication is that those of us up here and the thousands of people around the country and around the world who are working to defeat ISIL aren't taking the fight seriously, that would come as a surprise to those who have spent these last seven and a half years dismantling al Qaeda in the FATA, for example -- including the men and women in uniform who put their lives at risk and the Special Forces that I ordered to get bin Laden and are now on the ground in Iraq and in Syria. They know full well who the enemy is. So do the intelligence and law enforcement officers who spend countless hours disrupting plots and protecting all Americans, including politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows. They know who the nature of the enemy is.
So there’s no magic to the phrase “radical Islam.” It’s a political talking point; it's not a strategy. And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism. Groups like ISIL and al Qaeda want to make this war a war between Islam and America, or between Islam and the West. They want to claim that they are the true leaders of over a billion Muslims around the world who reject their crazy notions. They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for those billion-plus people; that they speak for Islam. That’s their propaganda. That's how they recruit. And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion -- then we’re doing the terrorists' work for them.
Now, up until this point, this argument about labels has mostly just been partisan rhetoric. And, sadly, we've all become accustomed to that kind of partisanship, even when it involves the fight against these extremist groups. And that kind of yapping has not prevented folks across government from doing their jobs, from sacrificing and working really hard to protect the American people.
But we are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind of thinking can be. We're starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're fighting, where this can lead us. We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States to bar all Muslims from emigrating to America. We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests that entire religious communities are complicit in violence. Where does this stop? The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer -- they were all U.S. citizens.
Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? We’ve heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want. It doesn't reflect our democratic ideals. It won’t make us more safe; it will make us less safe -- fueling ISIL’s notion that the West hates Muslims, making young Muslims in this country and around the world feel like no matter what they do, they're going to be under suspicion and under attack. It makes Muslim Americans feel like they're government is betraying them. It betrays the very values America stands for.
We've gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of fear -- and we came to regret it. We've seen our government mistreat our fellow citizens. And it has been a shameful part of our history.
This is a country founded on basic freedoms, including freedom of religion. We don't have religious tests here. Our Founders, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights are clear about that. And if we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect -- the pluralism and the openness, our rule of law, our civil liberties -- the very things that make this country great; the very things that make us exceptional. And then the terrorists would have won. And we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen.
Two weeks ago, I was at the commencement ceremony at the Air Force Academy [video and transcript included at/see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123156914 and preceding and following (two posts back)]. And it could not have been more inspiring to see these young people stepping up, dedicated to serve and protect this country. And part of what was inspiring was the incredible diversity of these cadets. We saw cadets, who are straight, applauding classmates who were openly gay. We saw cadets, born here in America, applauding classmates who are immigrants and love this country so much they decided they wanted to be part of our armed forces. We saw cadets and families of all religions applaud cadets who are proud, patriotic Muslim Americans serving their country in uniform, ready to lay their lives on the line to protect you and to protect me. We saw male cadets applauding for female classmates, who can now serve in combat positions. That’s the American military. That’s America -- one team, one nation. Those are the values that ISIL is trying to destroy, and we shouldn’t help them do it.
Our diversity and our respect for one another, our drawing on the talents of everybody in this country, our making sure that we are treating everybody fairly -- that we’re not judging people on the basis of what faith they are or what race they are, or what ethnicity they are, or what their sexual orientation is -- that’s what makes this country great. That’s the spirit we see in Orlando. That’s the unity and resolve that will allow us to defeat ISIL. That’s what will preserve our values and our ideals that define us as Americans. That’s how we’re going to defend this nation, and that’s how we’re going to defend our way of life.
Thank you very much.
END
12:43 P.M. EDT
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/14/remarks-president-after-counter-isil-meeting
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B54jxR9IPKc [with comments], [embedded at] https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2016/06/14/president-obama-delivers-statement-press
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Full Speech Hillary Clinton Rally in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania June 14 2016
Published on Jun 18, 2016 by Hillary Clinton Speeches [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa3tUtZutcTv9TZehWDqBCA / , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa3tUtZutcTv9TZehWDqBCA/videos ]
Full Speech: Hillary Clinton Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Rally (IBEW Circuit Center), June 14, 2016.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSMyrFEepmA [with comment] [also at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SgmWiUcrz8 (no comments yet), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4OPqJ24GQc (text adapted from; with comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp0kAT8TG3Y (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzabUZdTNIE (no comments yet)]
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President Obama Delivers a Statement in Orlando
Published on Jun 16, 2016 by The White House
Orlando, Florida
*
Remarks by the President in a Statement to the Press
Dr. P. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Orlando, Florida
June 16, 2016
3:40 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Four days ago, this community was shaken by an evil and hateful act. Today, we are reminded of what is good. That there is compassion, empathy and decency, and most of all, there is love. That’s the Orlando that we’ve seen in recent days. And that is the America that we have seen.
This afternoon, the Vice President and I had the opportunity to meet with many of the families here. As you might imagine, their grief is beyond description. Through their pain and through their tears, they told us about the joy that their loved ones had brought to their lives. They talked about their sons or their daughters -- so many young people, in their 20s and 30s; so many students who were focused on the future. One young woman was just 18 years old. Another, said her father, was a happy girl with so many dreams.
There were siblings there talking about their brothers and their sisters and how they were role models that they looked up to. There were husbands and wives who had taken a solemn vow; fathers and mothers who gave their full hearts to their children. These families could be our families. In fact, they are our family -- they’re part of the American family. Today, the Vice President and I told them, on behalf of the American people, that our hearts are broken, too, but we stand with you and that we are here for you, and that we are remembering those who you loved so deeply.
As a nation, we’ve also been inspired by the courage of those who risked their lives and cared for others. Partners whose last moments were spent shielding each other. The mother who gave her life to save her son. The former Marine whose quick thinking saved dozens of lives.
Joe and I had the chance to thank Mayor Dyer, Chief Mina, Sheriff Demings, all who responded in heroic ways; the outstanding police and first responders who were able to, through their professionalism and quick response, rescue so many people. We also owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to all the doctors, all the nurses who have worked day and night to treat the injured, save lives and prevent even more anguish. As one of the doctors here said, “after the worst of humanity reared its ugly head…the best of humanity came roaring back.” Let me get that quote more precisely -- “after the worst of humanity reared its evil head…the best of humanity came roaring back.”
Now, if we’re honest with ourselves, if, in fact, we want to show the best of our humanity, then we're all going to have to work together at every level of government, across political lines, to do more to stop killers who want to terrorize us. We will continue to be relentless against terrorist groups like ISIL and al Qaeda. We are going to destroy them. We are going to disrupt their networks, and their financing, and the flow of fighters in and out of war theaters. We're going to disrupt their propaganda that poisons so many minds around the world.
We're going to do all that. Our resolve is clear. But given the fact that the last two terrorist attacks on our soil -- Orlando and San Bernardino -- were homegrown, carried out it appears not by external plotters, not by vast networks or sophisticated cells, but by deranged individuals warped by the hateful propaganda that they had seen over the Internet, then we’re going to have to do more to prevent these kinds of events from occurring. It's going to take more than just our military. It's going to require more than just our intelligence teams. As good as they are, as dedicated as they are, as focused as they are, if you have lone wolf attacks like this, hatched in the minds of a disturbed person, then we're going to have to take different kinds of steps in order to prevent something like this from happening.
Those who were killed and injured here were gunned down by a single killer with a powerful assault weapon. The motives of this killer may have been different than the mass shooters in Aurora or Newtown, but the instruments of death were so similar. And now, another 49 innocent people are dead. Another 53 are injured. Some are still fighting for their lives. Some will have wounds that will last a lifetime. We can't anticipate or catch every single deranged person that may wish to do harm to his neighbors, or his friends, or his coworkers, or strangers. But we can do something about the amount of damage that they do. Unfortunately, our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist or just a disturbed individual like those in Aurora and Newtown to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons -- and they can do so legally.
Today, once again, as has been true too many times before, I held and hugged grieving family members and parents, and they asked, why does this keep happening? And they pleaded that we do more to stop the carnage. They don’t care about the politics. Neither do I. Neither does Joe. And neither should any parent out there who’s thinking about their kids being not in the wrong place, but in places where kids are supposed to be.
This debate needs to change. It’s outgrown the old political stalemates. The notion that the answer to this tragedy would be to make sure that more people in a nightclub are similarly armed to the killer defies common sense. Those who defend the easy accessibility of assault weapons should meet these families and explain why that makes sense. They should meet with the Newtown families -- some of whom Joe saw yesterday -- whose children would now be finishing fifth grade -- on why it is that we think our liberty requires these repeated tragedies. That's not the meaning of liberty.
I’m pleased to hear that the Senate will hold votes on preventing individuals with possible terrorist ties from buying guns, including assault weapons. I truly hope that senators rise to the moment and do the right thing. I hope that senators who voted no on background checks after Newtown have a change of heart. And then I hope the House does the right thing, and helps end the plague of violence that these weapons of war inflict on so many young lives.
I've said this before -- we will not be able to stop every tragedy. We can't wipe away hatred and evil from every heart in this world. But we can stop some tragedies. We can save some lives. We can reduce the impact of a terrorist attack if we're smart. And if we don't act, we will keep seeing more massacres like this -- because we’ll be choosing to allow them to happen. We will have said, we don't care enough to do something about it.
Here in Orlando, we are reminded not only of our obligations as a country to be resolute against terrorists, we are reminded not only of the need for us to implement smarter policies to prevent mass shootings, we're also reminded of what unites us as Americans, and that what unites us is far stronger than the hate and the terror of those who target us.
For so many people here who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, the Pulse Nightclub has always been a safe haven, a place to sing and dance, and most importantly, to be who you truly are -- including for so many people whose families are originally from Puerto Rico. Sunday morning, that sanctuary was violated in the worst way imaginable. So whatever the motivations of the killer, whatever influences led him down the path of violence and terror, whatever propaganda he was consuming from ISIL and al Qaeda, this was an act of terrorism but it was also an act of hate. This was an attack on the LGBT community. Americans were targeted because we’re a country that has learned to welcome everyone, no matter who you are or who you love. And hatred towards people because of sexual orientation, regardless of where it comes from, is a betrayal of what’s best in us.
Joe and I were talking on the way over here -- you can't make up the world into “us” and “them,” and denigrate and express hatred towards groups because of the color of their skin, or their faith, or their sexual orientation, and not feed something very dangerous in this world.
So if there was ever a moment for all of us to reflect and reaffirm our most basic beliefs that everybody counts and everybody has dignity, now is the time. It's a good time for all of us to reflect on how we treat each other, and to insist on respect and equality for every human being.
We have to end discrimination and violence against our brothers and sisters who are in the LGBT community -- here at home and around the world, especially in countries where they are routinely persecuted. We have to challenge the oppression of women, wherever it occurs -- here or overseas. There’s only “us” -- Americans.
Here in Orlando, in the men and women taken from us, those who loved them, we see some of the true character of this country -- the best of humanity coming roaring back; the love and the compassion and the fierce resolve that will carry us through not just through this atrocity, but through whatever difficult times may confront us.
It’s our pluralism and our respect for each other -- including a young man who said to a friend, he was “super proud” to be Latino. It’s our love of country -- the patriotism of an Army reservist who was known as “an amazing officer.” It’s our unity -- the outpouring of love that so many across our country have shown to our fellow Americans who are LGBT, a display of solidarity that might have been unimaginable even a few years ago.
Out of this darkest of moments, that gives us hope -- seeing people reflect, seeing people’s best instincts come out, maybe in some cases, minds and hearts change. It is our strength and our resilience -- the same determination of a man who died here who traveled the world, mindful of the risks as a gay man, but who spoke for us all when he said, “we cannot be afraid…we are not going to be afraid.”
May we all find that same strength in our own lives. May we all find that same wisdom in how we treat one another. May God bless all who we lost here in Orlando. May He comfort their families. May He heal the wounded. May He bring some solace to those whose hearts have been broken. May He give us resolve to do what’s necessary to reduce the hatred of this world, curb the violence. And may He watch over this country that we call home.
Thank you very much, everybody.
END
3:58 P.M. EDT
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/16/remarks-president-statement-press
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZByaHrVWro [with comments], [embedded at] https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2016/06/16/president-obama-delivers-statement-orlando
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Almost Every GOP Senator Just Voted to Keep Letting Terror Suspects Buy Guns
Gun enthusiasts view Sig Sauer rifles at the NRA's annual convention in May 2016.
Once again, gun safety measures fail to move forward in Congress after a massacre.
Jun. 20, 2016
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/gun-safety-measures-defeated-senate-republicans-orlando [with comments]
===
Democratic Party Reform Press Conference | Bernie Sanders
Published on Jun 14, 2016 by Bernie 2016 [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH1dpzjCEiGAt8CXkryhkZg , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH1dpzjCEiGAt8CXkryhkZg/videos ]
A few things are clear: 1) We have to replace the current DNC leadership. We need someone who vigorously supports bringing people into the political process. 2) We must get rid of superdelegates. The fact that we had 400 superdelegates pledged eight months before the first ballot was cast is absurd. and 3) The idea that in the State of New York 3 million people could not participate in helping select the Democratic nominee is incomprehensible. We need real reform within the Democratic Party. And that means open primaries.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7gzE-ceQyo [with comments)] [also included in longer excerpts from the press conference at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQzh0cj5tOI (no comments yet), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuuWeh9L7OM (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-7g8VNK68 (with comments)]
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Sanders collides with black lawmakers
Bernie Sanders and his supporters have railed against the unelected superdelegates, who have the freedom to back any candidate they choose.
Getty
The Congressional Black Caucus 'vehemently' opposes Sanders' call to abolish superdelegates.
By Daniel Strauss
06/19/16 04:17 PM EDT
Bernie Sanders is on a crash course with the Congressional Black Caucus.
In a letter sent to both the Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaigns, the CBC is expressing its resolute opposition to two key reforms demanded by Sanders in the run-up to the Democratic convention: abolishing the party’s superdelegate system and opening Democratic primaries up to independents and Republicans.
"The Democratic Members of the Congressional Black Caucus recently voted unanimously to oppose any suggestion or idea to eliminate the category of Unpledged Delegate to the Democratic National Convention (aka Super Delegates) and the creation of uniform open primaries in all states," says the letter [ http://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000155-6a23-dbd7-a5d5-fe6f76ef0000 ], which was obtained by POLITICO. "The Democratic Party benefits from the current system of unpledged delegates to the National Convention by virtue of rules that allow members of the House and Senate to be seated as a delegate without the burdensome necessity of competing against constituents for the honor of representing the state during the nominating process."
The letter — which was also sent to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz — follows a Wednesday CBC meeting where members discussed for over an hour the impact of eliminating superdelegates on the African-American community, according to CBC Chairman Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.).
"We passed a resolution in our caucus that we would vehemently oppose any change in the superdelegate system because members of the CBC might want to participate in the Democratic convention as delegates but if we would have to run for the delegate slot at the county level or state level or district level, we would be running against our constituents and we're not going to do that,” said Butterfield. “But we want to participate as delegates and that's why this superdelegates system was created in the beginning, so members would not have to run against their own constituents."
The opposition to open primaries is based on the fear that allowing independent or Republican voters to participate in Democratic primaries would dilute minority voting strength in many places.
The superdelegate system has been a flashpoint throughout the campaign. Sanders and his supporters have railed against the unelected superdelegates, who have the freedom to back any candidate they choose. This year, the vast majority of them have endorsed Clinton — many of them before the first votes of the primary season were even cast. In states where Sanders has won the popular vote but not the support of the state’s superdelegates, it’s led to deep resentment at the grassroots level and fueled claims that the nominating process was rigged.
In Wyoming, for example, despite defeating Clinton in the state's April 9 Democratic caucuses by 56 percent to 44 percent, Sanders actually suffered a net delegate loss because the state’s four superdelegates all backed Clinton.
According to the Associated Press, Clinton currently has the support of 587 superdelegates to 48 for Sanders.
Several state Democratic conventions in recent months considered resolutions abolishing the superdelegate system, or changing it so that superdelegates must align themselves in proportion to the outcome.
The pressure to eliminate or modify the superdelegate allocation process has led some senior party leaders to express support for reform.
"I'm very open to a reform that says the superdelegates have to vote with the preferences of their state," said former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a former DNC chairman. "That's not a problem —in the same proportion."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the party’s most influential liberals and a Clinton supporter, criticized superdelegates during the Massachusetts Democratic state convention.
"I’m a superdelegate, and I don’t believe in superdelegates," Warren told reporters at the June 5 convention.
Many African-American lawmakers, however, are loathe to give up any influence and hard-won gains in the selection of the Democratic nominee. In a letter accompanying the CBC letter to Democratic colleagues, Rep. James Clyburn — a member of House leadership and co-chairman of a 2009 commission that reviewed the Democratic nominating process — strongly pushed back against criticism of the superdelegate process.
"Let me be clear, our delegate selection process is not rigged," Clyburn wrote in the separate letter [ http://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000155-69c5-d0c4-a1fd-fbc710260001 ], also obtained by POLITICO. "It is transparent to the public and open for participation for all who wish to declare themselves."
The Sanders campaign declined to comment on the letters.
Retaining some kind of superdelegate system has been a high priority for CBC members, said Democratic strategist Doug Thornell, formerly the group’s communications director.
"Sanders did a lot of things right in this campaign, he did a lot better than expected. At the same time he seemed to have a lack of understanding or lack of relationships with black leaders that you saw ultimately hurt him in South Carolina and other states with big black electorates," Thornell said. "And this is something that the CBC is going to be very passionate and push back against. This is a way that African-American officials can represent their district and have a say in the process. They're not going to go along with this at all."
Multiple CBC members conceded that the superdelegate system has its flaws, but also argued it's not worth scrapping. "I've been listening to both sides, all sides of the debate and I think both sides have made persuasive arguments," said one CBC member, who asked to not be named.
"The superdelegate system is not perfect but it has worked for us quite well over the years and frankly the superdelegates have never needed to cast any superdelegate votes to alter what the voters did during the primary elections," said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. "Never. That's not the case this year either. The concern many of us have, of course, is that our numbers would shrink in terms of having influence over and involvement with what happens at the convention."
Cleaver added that the CBC would not be swayed on the superdelegate issue.
"The black caucus is immovable on this subject because our number one concern is going to be an always be the highest level of minority participation as possible at the convention," Cleaver said. "You're going to see the same thing with the Hispanic Congressional Caucus. Mr. Sanders, if he had met with either or what's called the tri-caucus, he would have found out there is no flexibility."
© 2016 POLITICO LLC
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/bernie-sanders-black-caucus-superdelegates-224502 [with comments]
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Pants On Fire for viral rumor Bernie Sanders won California
Says Bernie Sanders "wins California landslide, But 2/3 of his votes aren’t counted."
— Bloggers on Tuesday, June 7th, 2016 in a headline in the Justice Gazette [ http://justicegazette.org/bernie-defrauded-in-ca.html (at/see {linked in} e.g. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123209833 and following, http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123258090 and following)]
PANTS ON FIRE – The statement is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim.
June 10th, 2016
http://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2016/jun/10/blog-posting/pants-fire-viral-rumor-bernie-sanders-won-californ/
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California Democratic Primary
June 7, 2016
All precincts reporting
Last updated: 12:16 p.m. on June 8, 2016
Clinton 55.8%, 1,940,580 votes
Sanders 43.2%, 1,502,043 votes
Clinton lead 438,537 votes
[(drawn from) as still currently showing at] http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2016/primaries/2016-06-07
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California Democratic Primary
June 7, 2016
All precincts reporting
updated as of June 14, 2016
Clinton 55.5%, 2,211,141 votes
Sanders 43.5%, 1,734,317 votes
Clinton lead 476,824 votes
[(drawn from) as reported at] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/14/california-primary-vote-tightens-as-sanders-supporters-hope-for-a-miracle/ [with embedded videos, and comments]
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California Presidential Primary Election
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
100.0% ( 22,356 of 22,356 ) precincts partially reporting as of June 21, 2016, 11:03 a.m.
Clinton 54.5%, 2,529,320 votes
Sanders 44.6%, 2,073,646 votes
Clinton lead 455,674 votes
[(drawn from) as currently at] http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/democratic/
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District of Columbia Democratic Primary
June 14, 2016
All precincts reporting
Last updated: 10:20 a.m. on June 15, 2016
Clinton 78.7%, 75,223 votes
Sanders 21.1%, 20,137 voyes
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2016/primaries/2016-06-14
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Clinton, Sanders talk after the former wins D.C. primary
June 14, 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-prepared-to-meet-with-clinton-as-district-holds-final-democratic-primary/2016/06/14/0f43d200-3239-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html [with embedded videos, and comments]
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Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Meet as Their Battle Ends
Senator Bernie Sanders, center, after meeting with Hillary Clinton in Washington on Tuesday.
JUNE 14, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign.html [with embedded video]
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Clinton wins D.C. primary, has 'positive' meeting with Sanders
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio June 13, 2016.
Jun 15, 2016
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-democrats-idUSKCN0Z0290 [with embedded video]
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Clinton’s Progressive Beacon Is a Former Goldman Sachs Banker and Bob Rubin Protégé
Gary Gensler
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
by Jennifer Epstein
June 16, 2016 — 4:00 AM CDT
Over tea at Hillary Clinton’s Washington home in late 2014, Elizabeth Warren warned her host that when it comes to Wall Street, what mattered most was the people Clinton surrounded herself with.
Months later, as Clinton launched her presidential campaign, Gary Gensler, who had been a Goldman Sachs banker before he became a senior policy aide and Bob Rubin protégé during the deregulatory years of Bill Clinton’s Treasury Department, came on board, in part to serve as a driving force behind her economic-policy shop. Remarkably, Warren would be one of his strongest supporters.
The deeper explanation is that Gensler is a financial-policy unicorn—a deregulator turned reformer. As head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Gensler became known as one of President Barack Obama’s toughest regulators, willing to buck his friends and former colleagues to tighten rules on the $400 trillion swaps market following the 2008 crisis. His name became an expletive to many on Wall Street, to the delight of Warren and her allies.
Now, Gensler (along with Mandy Grunwald, who works with both women) is a central conduit between Warren and Clinton. “Gary is tough, smart, and principled, and he really understands what it takes to make our economy work better for hardworking families. During his time at the CFTC, he showed that he is willing to take on the big banks and fight to make our financial system safer,” said Warren, who met with Clinton last week after endorsing the presumptive Democratic nominee. “I really respect him.”
That doesn’t mean that Gensler’s history doesn’t continue to shadow him—along with an old adversary, Bernie Sanders. “Unfortunately,” said Warren Gunnels, Sanders’ top policy adviser in the Senate and on his campaign, “Gary Gensler still has not learned the lessons of the late ’90s and of deregulating Wall Street.”
‘More Mission for the Money’
Since he joined the campaign in April 2015, Gensler, 58, has been advising Clinton not just on financial policy but on trade and taxes. With his help, she’s focused in on the so-called shadow banking system—non-bank entities that behave like banks but do not face the same regulations—as a key area in need of more rules. He’s also resisted activist pressure to support a 21st-century Glass-Steagall Act.
His official post, which he requested, is chief financial officer. At Clinton headquarters, signs hang above each department, briefly distilling what each does. The slogan for Gensler’s team could also be campaign manager Robby Mook’s mantra: more mission for the money. It’s not a radical concept, but it is a big change from 2008, when Clinton’s campaign spent more than it raised in its final three quarters and ended with $22.5 million in debt.
Gensler, who tended to high-level surrogates and donors as a senior adviser to Clinton in 2008, had the financial pressures of that race in mind when he told her that the way he could be most helpful this time around was as CFO. Looking at an operation that, if Clinton were to become the nominee, would, along with the Democratic National Committee, need to raise and spend $1 billion and hire 4,000 people, Gensler thought he could make it all work, with enough money for the mission. He’d been counting money since he was a kid, helping his dad’s vending business, and his final job at Goldman Sachs, co-head of finance, included many of the functions of a CFO.
Even for a former regulator, it’s not the most glamorous role; every day, he’s given a big stack of checks to sign. He insisted on using strict accounting practices so that the campaign wouldn’t fall into debt by leaving costs off its balance sheet until bills are paid, as campaigns often do. He hopes to end the campaign in November with nothing left in the bank and no debt, either. Obama 2012 ended with nearly $5.7 million in debt.
Gensler’s portfolio stretches into other areas as well. He, along with campaign lawyer Marc Elias and national finance director Dennis Cheng, led the process last year to create the Hillary Victory Fund, which jointly raises money for the campaign, the DNC, and state Democratic parties. He’s also helping to plan the Democratic National Convention, along with the campaign’s chief administrative officer, Charlie Baker. On debate nights during the Democratic primary, he sat in the war room. Ahead of those debates, where Wall Street was almost always a flashpoint, he helped prepare for debate prep sessions with the candidate.
Like other high-level Clinton aides, Gensler occasionally headlines fundraisers, including one in April hosted by staffers who worked on Dodd-Frank and one this week [ https://www.hillaryclinton.com/events/tickets/UQSA3V7SBUAMABTF/ ] organized by employees of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, which is regulated by the CFTC, including former CFTC Commissioner Mark Wetjen.
It’s an enormous time commitment. But Gensler’s wife died in 2006 and the youngest of his three daughters just finished her freshman year of college.
What Gary Wants
Gensler has already served in a senior administration job and could afford to never work again (during the early 2000s, he was a stay-at-home dad and caretaker to his wife). Instead, he’s logging 20-hour days not just because he believes in Clinton and wants to help her win but because his ambitions don’t end at what he’s already done.
He’s seen as a possible Treasury secretary [ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-29/one-of-these-people-could-be-the-next-u-s-treasury-secretary ] for Clinton, if not first out of the gate at the start of her administration then later on (perhaps after Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg or Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard, if Clinton chooses to nominate the first-ever woman to lead the department).
Gensler met the then-first lady at end of Bill Clinton’s administration, when he was an aide to Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. They came across each other again during Hillary Clinton’s early years in the Senate and by the time she was running for a second term representing New York, Gensler and his family were hosting a fundraiser for her at their Baltimore home.
Clinton’s infamous e-mail server contains evidence of their relationship. While Clinton served as secretary of state, Gensler occasionally wrote to her private e-mail address to share his thoughts on the global economy and to ask for career advice.
In the weeks after Obama was re-elected, he twice wrote to Clinton asking for some time to talk about his next steps in the administration. “All is well at the CFTC, but it would be wonderful to benefit from your views on how to consider other opportunities to contribute,” he said in one message. He also sent her a link to a glowing profile in Time magazine that declared him to be “The Money Cop.”
The next month, as Clinton recovered from a concussion, he sent notes wishing her well and praising a joint interview she did with Obama. “You sounded and looked wonderful tonight on 60 Minutes,” he said.
Progressive But Practical
Part of Gensler’s influence stems from his temperamental similarities to his candidate.
“Gary’s a progressive but he’s a practical guy,” said Bart Chilton, a Democrat who was a CFTC commissioner when Gensler was the agency’s chair. “He’s not a left-wing nut. Some people might disagree given all the rules we did. But he’s a guy who’s able to say, ‘No, let’s figure out how we get this done that’s actually going to work, not just what you might want to do.’”
Gensler and Clinton share a preference for the nuts and bolts of policy-making over the posturing of campaigns. “Policy-making on a presidential campaign isn’t like it is on Capitol Hill or in the executive branch,” Chilton said.
In many quarters, Gensler’s hiring sent an important signal. Key progressive groups see Gensler as a positive influence on the campaign and, potentially, a future Clinton administration. “If it touches on jobs, growth, the economy, or finance, Gary’s opinion is sought and very carefully weighed,” said Dennis Kelleher, chief executive officer of Better Markets, which advocates for tougher financial regulations.
Gensler’s credibility with progressives is crucial, both because of Clinton’s own Wall Street ties and because of the backgrounds of some of her other advisers.
“There are circles of people whose roles are unclear who are associated with the Wall Street wing of the party. That bothers us,” said a top official at a labor union who asked not to be named speaking before the union had endorsed Clinton.
The locus of these concerns is Gene Sperling, who ran the National Economic Council in the Clinton and Obama White Houses and is an important outside adviser, especially on issues like manufacturing and housing. Some progressives point to pro-Wall Street positions he took in the Clinton and Obama administrations as reason for concern, and also fret that even as the Clinton campaign tries to keep its distance from Summers, the former treasury secretary is influencing the campaign through his relationship with Sperling. Michael Pyle, a former economic aide in the Obama administration who works at BlackRock, is an unpaid adviser to the campaign on finance policy.
Gensler is temperamentally suited to resisting pressure. To those who don’t agree with him—and even sometimes to those who do—his drive to achieve can come off as an unwillingness to listen to others. One Republican who worked with him at the CFTC complained that when the agency started work on a new rule, he already had certain goals in mind and directed the agency’s staff to pursue them without seeking the collaboration and consensus that had been part of how the agency worked under other chairs.
Winning Over the Left
Gensler was once a charter member of the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party. After earning two degrees at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he spent 18 years at Goldman Sachs, rising to co-head of finance before being brought to the Treasury Department by his former colleague, Rubin. He served as assistant secretary for financial markets from 1997 to 1999 and then became undersecretary of the Treasury for domestic finance for the remainder of the Clinton administration. In those roles, he pushed for the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which deregulated the over-the-counter derivatives market, and he joined his bosses in supporting the bill that repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act.
When he was nominated by President-elect Obama in late 2008 to run the CFTC, his work during the last Democratic administration came back to haunt him.
The Democratic majority in the Senate confirmed Obama’s top economic nominees with little resistance, aware that senior jobs needed to be filled in the midst of a deep recession, even as progressives fretted that his picks were heavy on Clinton administration veterans sympathetic to Wall Street. Along with other Senate progressives, Washington state’s Maria Cantwell had concerns about Gensler’s record on derivatives regulation during his time at Treasury Department and also wanted to make a broader point about Obama’s nominees. Sanders also put a hold on the nomination.
In the face of this opposition, Gensler made a concerted effort to show liberal Democrats that he wasn’t a typical Rubinite and, unlike most of Bill Clinton’s economic team, would publicly acknowledge the deregulatory missteps of the late 1990s that contributed to the 2008 crash. “Looking back now, it is clear to me that all of us that were involved at the time—and certainly myself—should have done more to protect the American public through aggressive regulation, comprehensive regulation,” he said during a grilling by then-Iowa Senator Tom Harkin during his confirmation hearing.
When Gensler was nominated, “people were really skeptical about him. He’d come from Goldman Sachs, he’d been in the Clinton administration with a lot of people who were of Wall Street and that’s how they viewed the world,” recalled former Senator Ted Kaufman, the Delaware Democrat who took Joe Biden’s place in the Senate at the start of the Obama administration.
Gensler made the sale with most progressives because he made clear that “he really wanted to do everything we can to fix the problems that caused the financial crisis, make our markets fairer, make our markets safer," Kaufman continued. “He was single-minded about it.”
Gensler played a key role in drafting the Dodd-Frank Act and then used the powers in it to expand the CFTC’s reach to include not just the $35 trillion futures market but also the swaps market, which is more than 10 times larger.
“He’s a good example of someone drawn from the industry who can provide value added,” said Sheila Bair, a Republican who chaired the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from 2006 to 2011.
Burnt
For all the progressives he convinced that he’d left Goldman Sachs and Rubin behind, there was one glaring exception: Sanders.
Sanders opposed Gensler’s nomination for months in early 2009, arguing that a Rubinite could never fit the bill. “Gary Gensler, as part of the Treasury Department under Robert Rubin, pushed for the repeal of Glass-Steagall, the breakdown of those walls, which have led us precisely to where Citigroup is today, where AIG is today,” Sanders said in a March 2009 interview with Democracy Now. “This is a hard-working guy. He is a decent guy. I don’t have any animus against him personally. But I think President Obama has brought around him a lot of the Rubin mentality, which is not only deregulation, it’s unfettered free trade.”
After working to persuade Sanders and other progressives for another two months, Gensler’s nomination finally got a vote on the Senate floor, where he was confirmed 88 to 6. Sanders and five Democrats were the no votes.
While Sanders said that his post might give Gensler the opportunity for a “Nixon in China” moment, he was never fully satisfied with Gensler’s work.
“Senator Sanders was very disappointed in the role he played at the CFTC to not move aggressively to eliminate excessive oil speculation in the commodities futures market,” said Gunnels.
Gensler’s allies rebut that, arguing that he did all he could given that the agency’s lawyers didn’t believe its emergency powers could be invoked.
But Sanders and his team have never revised their opinion. “There’s a myth that he was somehow a strong regulator,” Gunnels said.
Ahead of Sanders’ big Wall Street policy speech in January, Gensler offered a prebuttal for the Clinton campaign, urging the Vermont senator to include proposals aimed at reining in risks in the shadow banking system and chastising him for so far taking “a hands-off approach to some of the riskiest institutions and activities in our economy, which were among the biggest culprits during the 2008 crisis.”
Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs fired back at the time with a statement aimed squarely at Gensler’s pre-2001 résumé: “Senator Sanders won’t be taking advice on how to regulate Wall Street from a former Goldman Sachs partner and a former Treasury Department official who helped Wall Street rig the system.”
Some progressives say that, with regard to Gensler, Sanders went too far.
An aide to another senator involved with financial issues said that “Bernie misplayed his Gary interaction” by turning against Gensler rather than embracing the good he’s done. “He was a tougher regulator than anybody else who was an agency chair and deserves credit for that.”
“It was just kind of jarring in the way that they went after Gary,” the staffer added, declining to be named since his office works with Sanders’ team on many issues.
Gunnels said the whole flap “almost seemed like it was kind of payback for Senator Sanders’ hold he had placed on him.”
Gunnels declined to speculate on whether Sanders would block a future nomination of Gensler but, he added, “I think it’s safe to say that Gary Gensler would not be in a Bernie Sanders administration.”
©2016 Bloomberg L.P.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-06-16/gary-gensler-profile
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Oprah Winfrey on Hillary Clinton: ‘I’m with her’
Oprah Winfrey arrives at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif., in February 2015.
June 16, 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2016/06/16/oprah-winfrey-on-hillary-clinton-im-with-her/ [with comments]
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Exclusive: Armitage to back Clinton over Trump
Richard Armitage is one of the most prominent Republican foreign policy experts to not back Donald Trump.
Getty
Former Reagan and Bush appointee is highest-ranking Republican to break ranks for Hillary.
By Michael Crowley
06/16/16 11:54 AM EDT
Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state under George W. Bush, says he will vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, in one of the most dramatic signs yet that Republican national security elites are rejecting their party’s presumptive nominee.
Armitage, a retired Navy officer who also served as an assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan, is thought by Clinton aides to be the highest-ranking former GOP national security official to openly support Clinton over Trump.
“If Donald Trump is the nominee, I would vote for Hillary Clinton,” Armitage told POLITICO in a brief interview. “He doesn't appear to be a Republican, he doesn't appear to want to learn about issues. So, I’m going to vote for Mrs. Clinton.”
Dozens of Republican foreign policy elites have already declared [ http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/trump-clinton-neoconservatives-220151 ] their unwillingness to support or work for Trump, though far fewer say they would cast a ballot for Clinton. The latter group includes Max Boot, a prominent neoconservative military analyst and historian; Mark Salter, former longtime chief of staff to Republican Sen. John McCain; and retired Army Col. Peter Mansour, a former top aide to retired Gen. David Petraeus.
More national security heavyweights with conservative credentials could emerge in opposition to Trump in the coming months, though. Several retired generals, some with strong Republican connections, are privately alarmed over Trump’s candidacy and are debating whether to say so publicly. One retired general who served in a senior command role during the Obama years said former generals and officers are wary of the political fray, but that he expects a group of them “probably will try to energize something.”
One former senior commander, the retired four-star Marine Gen. James T. Mattis, even recently considered joining the 2016 presidential race as an independent candidate, at the behest of a group of anti-Trump Republicans that includes Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, who discussed the idea with Mattis over dinner in Washington in late April. Kristol says the general gave the idea serious consideration. Mattis has never declared a party affiliation but is widely believed to lean Republican.
Armitage declined to say whether he has ever voted for a Democrat in a presidential election. In 2008, he advised the campaign of Republican John McCain. In 2012, he gave at least one interview [ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-09-18/romney-s-47-with-no-taxes-include-elderly-poor-workers ] critical of GOP nominee Mitt Romney, though he did not say how he planned to vote.
Armitage gained national prominence in 2006 when he admitted to revealing the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame to the columnist Robert Novak after her husband, Joe Wilson, publicly challenged Bush administration claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He has called the act “foolish” and unintentional, and was never charged in the ensuing federal investigation.
Armitage told POLITICO Thursday that he didn’t know whether more Republicans might soon back Clinton. But he added that many of his conservative friends with national security backgrounds “are confused” by the choice before them and unsure about what to do.
“They’re in kind of a fog,” he said.
© 2016 POLITICO LLC
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/richard-armitage-endorses-clinton-224431 [with comments]
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AFL-CIO announces support for Clinton, slams Trump as an ‘unstable charlatan’
Hillary Clinton meets supporters at the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton on Wednesday.
(Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
By John Wagner
June 16, 2016
The AFL-CIO on Thursday formally announced [ http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/AFL-CIO-Votes-to-Endorse-Hillary-Clinton-for-President ] its support for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, framing the fall election against Republican Donald Trump as “a stark choice between an unstoppable champion for working families and an unstable charlatan who made his fortune scamming them.”
The backing of the largest umbrella group for the nation’s labor unions was widely expected to go to Clinton, but the 12.5 million member organization held off making an endorsement during a contentious primary season in which many rank-and-file union members sided with Clinton’s Democratic rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
In a statement, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised Sanders, saying he “brought an important voice to this election and has elevated critical issues and strengthened the foundation of our movement.”
The remarks of Trumka and other labor leaders focused largely on what's ahead, however.
Trumka said the AFL-CIO would run “a sophisticated, targeted ground campaign” to benefit Clinton. “And with the dire consequences Donald Trump poses for America’s working families, it has to be,” he added.
In a statement, Clinton said [ https://www.hillaryclinton.com/briefing/statements/2016/06/16/hillary-clinton-statement-on-afl-cio-endorsement/ ] she would fight for several labor priorities, including making “the biggest investment in infrastructure since the Interstate Highway System.”
“To build a 21st century economy, we need 21st century roads, ports, transit systems, water systems, and electric grids,” she said.
Clinton also pledged to advocate for raising the federal minimum wage, guaranteeing paid family leave for workers and securing equal pay for women.
Thursday’s vote to endorse Clinton was not in doubt. It required a two-thirds majority of the AFL-CIO membership and a majority of the 57 member unions were already confirmed Clinton supporters.
Donald Trump responded to the news with a lengthy statement [ https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-statement-on-afl-cio-endorsement-of-hillary-clinton ], asserting that "the leadership of the AFL-CIO has made clear that it no longer represents American workers" and had "become part of the rigged system in Washington, D.C. that benefits only the insiders."
"I believe their members will be voting for me in much larger numbers than for her," said Trump.
The presumptive Republican nominee for president went on to present himself as the true heir to Bernie Sanders, a tactic he's used since it became clear that Clinton would power past him and secure the nomination.
"Hillary Clinton and her husband have made hundreds of millions of dollars doing favors and selling access to Wall Street, special interests and oppressive foreign regimes," said Trump. "As Bernie Sanders said, 'Why, over her political career, has Wall Street been the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton?' They own Hillary Clinton and she will do whatever they tell her to. Bernie Sanders is also 100 percent correct when he says that Hillary Clinton 'vote[d] for virtually every trade agreement that has cost the workers of this country millions of jobs.'"
Anne Gearan and David Weigel contributed to this report.
© 2016 The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/16/afl-cio-announces-support-for-clinton-slams-trump-as-an-unstable-charlatan/
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Bernie Sanders - National Live Stream Address
Streamed live on Jun 16, 2016 by Bernie 2016
The political revolution continues.
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The Political Revolution Continues
Prepared Remarks
June 16, 2016
Election days come and go. But political and social revolutions that attempt to transform our society never end. They continue every day, every week and every month in the fight to create a nation of social and economic justice. That’s what the trade union movement is about. That’s what the civil rights movement is about. That’s what the women’s movement is about. That’s what the gay rights movement is about. That’s what the environmental movement is about.
And that’s what this campaign has been about over the past year. That’s what the political revolution is about and that’s why the political revolution must continue into the future.
Real change never takes place from the top down, or in the living rooms of wealthy campaign contributors. It always occurs from the bottom on up – when tens of millions of people say “enough is enough” and become engaged in the fight for justice. That’s what the political revolution we helped start is all about. That’s why the political revolution must continue.
When we began this campaign a little over a year ago, we had no political organization, no money and very little name recognition. The media determined that we were a fringe campaign. Nobody thought we were going anywhere.
Well, a lot has changed over a year.
During this campaign, we won more than 12 million votes. We won 22 state primaries and caucuses. We came very close – within 2 points or less – in five more states.
In other words, our vision for the future of this country is not some kind of fringe idea. It is not a radical idea. It is mainstream. It is what millions of Americans believe in and want to see happen.
And something else extraordinarily important happened in this campaign that makes me very optimistic about the future of our country – something that, frankly, I had not anticipated. In virtually every state that we contested we won the overwhelming majority of the votes of people 45 years of age or younger, sometimes, may I say, by huge numbers. These are the people who are determined to shape the future of this country. These are the people who ARE the future of this country.
Together, in this campaign, 1.5 million people came out to our rallies and town meetings in almost every state in the country.
Together, hundreds of thousands of volunteers made 75 million phone calls urging their fellow citizens into action.
Together, our canvassers knocked on more than 5 million doors.
Together, we hosted 74,000 meetings in every state and territory in this country.
Together, 2.7 million people made over 8 million individual contributions to our campaign – more contributions at this point than any campaign in American history. Amazingly, the bulk of those contributions came from low-income and working people whose donations averaged $27 apiece. In an unprecedented way, we showed the world that we could run a strong national campaign without being dependent on the big-money interests whose greed has done so much to damage our country.
And let me give a special thanks to the financial support we received from students struggling to repay their college loans, from seniors and disabled vets on Social Security, from workers earning starvation wages and even from people who were unemployed.
In every single state that we contested we took on virtually the entire political establishment – U.S. senators, members of Congress, governors, mayors, state legislators and local party leaders. To those relatively few elected officials who had the courage to stand with us, I say thank you. We must continue working together into the future.
This campaign has never been about any single candidate. It is always about transforming America.
It is about ending a campaign finance system which is corrupt and allows billionaires to buy elections.
It is about ending the grotesque level of wealth and income inequality that we are experiencing where almost all new wealth and income goes to the people on top, where the 20 wealthiest people own more wealth than the bottom 150 million.
It is about creating an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent.
It is about ending the disgrace of native Americans who live on the Pine Ridge, South Dakota, reservation having a life expectancy lower than many third-world countries.
It is about ending the incredible despair that exists in many parts of this country where – as a result of unemployment and low wages, suicide, drugs and alcohol – millions of Americans are now dying, in an ahistorical way, at a younger age than their parents.
It is about ending the disgrace of having the highest level of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth and having public school systems in inner cities that are totally failing our children – where kids now stand a greater chance of ending up in jail than ending up with a college degree.
It is about ending the disgrace that millions of undocumented people in this country continue to live in fear and are exploited every day on their jobs because they have no legal rights.
It is about ending the disgrace of tens of thousands of Americans dying every year from preventable deaths because they either lack health insurance, have high deductibles or cannot afford the outrageously high cost of the prescription drugs they need.
It is about ending the disgrace of hundreds of thousands of bright young people unable to go to college because their families are poor or working class, while millions more struggle with suffocating levels of student debt.
It is about ending the pain of a young single mother in Nevada, in tears, telling me that she doesn’t know how she and her daughter can make it on $10.45 an hour. And the reality that today millions of our fellow Americans are working at starvation wages.
It is about ending the disgrace of a mother in Flint, Michigan, telling me what has happened to the intellectual development of her child as a result of lead in the water in that city, of many thousands of homes in California and other communities unable to drink the polluted water that comes out of their faucets.
In America. In the year 2016. In a nation whose infrastructure is crumbling before our eyes.
It is about ending the disgrace that too many veterans still sleep out on the streets, that homelessness is increasing and that tens of millions of Americans, because of a lack of affordable housing, are paying 40, 50 percent or more of their limited incomes to put a roof over their heads.
It is about ending the disgrace that, in a given year, corporations making billions in profit avoid paying a nickel in taxes because they stash their money in the Cayman Islands and other tax havens.
This campaign is about defeating Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president. After centuries of racism, sexism and discrimination of all forms in our country we do not need a major party candidate who makes bigotry the cornerstone of his campaign. We cannot have a president who insults Mexicans and Latinos, Muslims, women and African-Americans. We cannot have a president who, in the midst of so much income and wealth inequality, wants to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the very rich. We cannot have a president who, despite all of the scientific evidence, believes that climate change is a hoax.
The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly. And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time.
But defeating Donald Trump cannot be our only goal. We must continue our grassroots efforts to create the America that we know we can become. And we must take that energy into the Democratic National Convention on July 25 in Philadelphia where we will have more than 1,900 delegates.
I recently had the opportunity to meet with Secretary Clinton and discuss some of the very important issues facing our country and the Democratic Party. It is no secret that Secretary Clinton and I have strong disagreements on some very important issues. It is also true that our views are quite close on others. I look forward, in the coming weeks, to continued discussions between the two campaigns to make certain that your voices are heard and that the Democratic Party passes the most progressive platform in its history and that Democrats actually fight for that agenda. I also look forward to working with Secretary Clinton to transform the Democratic Party so that it becomes a party of working people and young people, and not just wealthy campaign contributors: a party that has the courage to take on Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry, the fossil fuel industry and the other powerful special interests that dominate our political and economic life.
As I have said throughout this campaign, the Democratic Party must support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, and create millions of jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.
We must ensure that women will no longer make 79-cents on the dollar compared to men and that we fight for pay equity.
We must fight to make certain that women throughout the country have the right to control their own bodies.
We must protect the right of our gay brothers and sisters to marriage equality in every state America.
As the recent tragedy in Orlando has made crystal clear, we must ban the sale and distribution of assault weapons, end the gun show loophole and expand instant background checks.
We must defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership and make certain that that bad trade deal does not get a vote in a lame-duck session of Congress.
We must resist all efforts to cut Social Security and, in fact, expand benefits for our seniors and disabled veterans.
We must understand that the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street has to end, that we need to pass modern-day Glass-Steagall legislation and that we need to break up the biggest financial institutions in this country who not only remain too big to fail but who prevent the kind of vigorous competition that a healthy financial system requires.
We must aggressively combat climate change and transform our energy system, move to energy efficiency and sustainable energy and impose a tax on carbon. It means that, in order to protect our water supply, we ban fracking.
We must compete effectively in a global economy by making public colleges and universities tuition free and substantially reduce student debt.
We must join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all people as a right and not a privilege.
We must end the disgrace of having more people in jail than any other country on earth and move toward real criminal justice reform at the federal, state and local levels.
We must pass comprehensive immigration reform and provide a path toward citizenship for 11 million undocumented people.
We must take a hard look at the waste, cost overruns and inefficiencies in every branch of government –including the Department of Defense. And we must make certain our brave young men and women in the military are not thrown into perpetual warfare in the Middle East or other wars we should not be fighting.
But the political revolution means much more than fighting for our ideals at the Democratic National Convention and defeating Donald Trump.
It means that, at every level, we continue the fight to make our society a nation of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.
It means that we can no longer ignore the fact that, sadly, the current Democratic Party leadership has turned its back on dozens of states in this country and has allowed right-wing politicians to win elections in some states with virtually no opposition – including some of the poorest states in America. The Democratic Party needs a 50-state strategy. We may not win in every state tomorrow but we will never win unless we recruit good candidates and develop organizations that can compete effectively in the future. We must provide resources to those states which have so long been ignored.
Most importantly, the Democratic Party needs leadership which is prepared to open its doors and welcome into its ranks working people and young people. That is the energy that we need to transform the Democratic Party, take on the special interests and transform our country.
Here is a cold, hard fact that must be addressed. Since 2009, some 900 legislative seats have been lost to Republicans in state after state throughout this country. In fact, the Republican Party now controls 31 state legislatures and controls both the governors’ mansions and statehouses in 23 states. That is unacceptable.
We need to start engaging at the local and state level in an unprecedented way. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers helped us make political history during the last year. These are people deeply concerned about the future of our country and their own communities. Now we need many of them to start running for school boards, city councils, county commissions, state legislatures and governorships. State and local governments make enormously important decisions and we cannot allow right-wing Republicans to increasingly control them.
I hope very much that many of you listening tonight are prepared to engage at that level. Please go to my website at berniesanders.com/win to learn more about how you can effectively run for office or get involved in politics at the local or state level. I have no doubt that with the energy and enthusiasm our campaign has shown that we can win significant numbers of local and state elections if people are prepared to become involved. I also hope people will give serious thought to running for statewide offices and the U.S. Congress.
And when we talk about transforming America, it is not just about elections. Many of my Republican colleagues believe that government is the enemy, that we need to eviscerate and privatize virtually all aspects of government – whether it is Social Security, Medicare, the VA, EPA, the Postal Service or public education. I strongly disagree. In a democratic civilized society, government must play an enormously important role in protecting all of us and our planet. But in order for government to work efficiently and effectively, we need to attract great and dedicated people from all walks of life. We need people who are dedicated to public service and can provide the services we need in a high quality and efficient way.
When we talk about a Medicare-for-all health care program and the need to make sure all of our people have quality health care, it means that we need tens of thousands of new doctors, nurses, dentists, psychologists and other medical personnel who are prepared to practice in areas where people today lack access to that care.
It means that we need hundreds of thousands of people to become childcare workers and teachers so that our young people will get the best education available in the world.
It means that as we combat climate change and transform our energy system away from fossil fuels, we need scientists and engineers and entrepreneurs who will help us make energy efficiency, solar energy, wind energy, geothermal and other developing technologies as efficient and cost effective as possible.
It means that as we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, we need millions of skilled construction workers of all kinds.
It means that when we talk about growing our economy and creating jobs, we need great business people who can produce and distribute the products and services we need in a way that respects their employees and the environment.
In other words, we need a new generation of people actively involved in public service who are prepared to provide the quality of life the American people deserve.
Let me conclude by once again thanking everyone who has helped in this campaign in one way or another. We have begun the long and arduous process of transforming America, a fight that will continue tomorrow, next week, next year and into the future.
My hope is that when future historians look back and describe how our country moved forward into reversing the drift toward oligarchy, and created a government which represents all the people and not just the few, they will note that, to a significant degree, that effort began with the political revolution of 2016.
Thank you very much. Good night.
© Bernie 2016
https://berniesanders.com/political-revolution-continues/
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzHSNjctOCk [comments disabled]
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Sanders campaign manager on state of bid
Morning Joe
6/17/16
Bernie Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver joins Morning Joe to discuss the state of Sanders' presidential bid, meeting with the Clinton campaign. Duration: 4:43
Will This Guy Shut Off the Lights in the Sanders Campaign?
Jeff Weaver with Bernie Sanders in Youngstown, Ohio, in March.
Mr. Weaver’s comic books and gaming store in Falls Church, Va.
JUNE 11, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/fashion/bernie-sanders-campaign-jeff-weaver.html
©2016 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/sanders-campaign-manager-on-state-of-bid-707531843932 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i8bv2KKml4 [with comments]
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Bernie Supporters Practice Getting Arrested At The Democratic Convention
Alex Wong / Getty Images
In the basement of The People’s Summit, progressives simulated protests and arrests. Update: A spokesperson for Philadelphia’s mayor says peaceful protesters have nothing to be worried about.
By Evan McMorris-Santoro
Originally posted on Jun. 18, 2016, at 8:32 p.m.
Updated on Jun. 19, 2016, at 9:07 a.m.
CHICAGO — The big question this weekend in Chicago is how to turn the Bernie Sanders movement into a lasting element of Democratic politics.
For some of the Sanders faithful on Saturday afternoon, the answer was locking arms on a civic center floor and struggling as “police officers” pulled them apart and “arrested” them.
The People’s Summit conference, sponsored by the National Nurses United — a progressive union that backed Sanders to the hilt during his run for president [see in particular (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=120526832 and preceding and following, http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=120533198 and preceding and following] — is aimed at uniting all elements of progressivism into a single effort that exerts pressure on the Democratic Party and its presumptive presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. Mourning Sanders’ loss and imagining what might have been was one part of the conversation.
Another saw older, established progressive leaders urging Sanders’ youth legion to stick together and try to achieve Bernie’s political revolution through more conventional means like influencing the Democratic Party platform and working in the grassroots for like-minded down-ballot candidates.
In the basement of the Lakeside Center, where the Summit was held, some of those younger Sanders supporters prepared for what they called “direct action” — loud, consistent, and perhaps disruptive protest outside the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Several dozen of them attended a training on how to march, how to follow a chant, how to defy police orders to disperse by sitting and locking arms in what’s called a “human chain,” and how to conduct themselves when the police stepped in and physically removed them.
Trainers wearing fake badges waded among the chanting and human-chained “protesters,” pulling them apart, putting their hands behind their backs, and leading them away.
The simulation was for what training leaders called “a blockade,” but they stressed blocking busy intersections or other disruptions may not be what the final protest plan looks like. “Direct action,” said participants in the training, is non-violent and peaceful.
Thousands of Sanders supporters have already signed a Facebook petition [ http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Protest-Campgrounds-Massive-De-Registration-Could-Mark-Turbulent-DNC-382112671.html ] promising to protest the Democratic convention. Many of those gathered at The People’s Summit expected those protests to include police stepping in. Rumors of police efforts to push protests back from the convention site or other efforts by the authorities to quiet the Sanders uprising abounded in the training session.
“They’re going to arrest people, period, end of story. So we just want to prepare ourselves,” said Cassidy Turner of San Diego. “We’re not going to be violent, we don’t really have a reason to get arrested but it’s going to happen. So we want to prepare ourselves.”
The protests will be ineffective if they don’t attract at least some attention from delegates in Philadelphia, Sanders supporters said.
“If we just let it be as convenient as possible, then that’s usually what’s most inconvenient for America,” said Cain Deheve of Chicago. “We don’t want to disrupt the outside world. We want to show them that there’s something serious going on here and we wouldn’t just be risking getting arrested or anything else for no reason.”
“Getting arrested itself is not what really proves anything. But I believe that there is a reason that [Philadelphia authorities] have made it illegal to do protests and stuff like that,” he said. “The establishment does not want us to disrupt the actions that they are doing. They want us to stay calm. It’s not about getting arrested. It’s about questioning authority.”
UPDATE
A spokesperson for Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney rejected the idea that the city’s police are out to make arrests during the Democratic convention.
“In the last paragraph, you quote an individual who says the City of Philadelphia has made protests illegal,” Lauren Hitt, Kenney’s communications director, told BuzzFeed News in an email. “We have not. In fact, we recently decriminalized several demonstration-related infractions, including refusal to disperse.”
In recent days, elected officials in Philadelphia have passed legislation [ http://bigstory.ap.org/article/15435268c45d4d87b83f333051005ffa/philadelphia-looks-avoid-mass-arrests-dnc-protesters ] that lets police issue $100 fines for infractions similar to those which led to highly-publicized arrests during the 2000 Republican convention held in the city.
© 2016 BuzzFeed, Inc
https://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/bernie-supporters-practice-getting-arrested-at-the-democrati [with comments]
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Many Washington Sanders backers at state Democratic convention not ready to quit
Bernie Sanders made an appearance Saturday at the state Democratic convention, but as a doll made by Donna Burdick. She wore it as a companion at the event in the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center. She’s from the 38th Legislative District.
(Alan Berner/The Seattle Times)
By Jim Brunner
Originally published June 18, 2016 at 8:04 pm | Updated June 19, 2016 at 12:41 am
TACOMA — Despite calls to unify behind presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, many backers of Bernie Sanders at the state Democratic convention this weekend were not ready to suspend their political revolution.
At the gathering inside Tacoma’s convention center, hundreds of delegates met to debate the party platform and rules and to finalize a slate of delegates to the Democratic National Convention next month.
Because of Sanders’ overwhelming win in the March 26 Democratic caucuses, his supporters dominated the convention crowd, and they were not all ready to accept Clinton’s victory in the Democratic primary race. The divisions in Tacoma in some ways mirrored a similar divide at the recent Republican state convention in Pasco, where many delegates were backers of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz instead of presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Some in Tacoma booed Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley when he argued Democrats needed to put aside differences and focus on defeating Trump, whom he called “a racist, misogynist, self-promoting financial predator.”
As the lone U.S. senator to have endorsed Sanders during the primary season, Merkley was a logical choice to deliver a plea for unity. He said while Clinton was not his first choice, she was now the party’s standard-bearer.
“We have to come together,” Merkley told the crowd during a keynote speech Saturday morning. “We need Hillary Clinton to win this election.”
Merkley said the political movement and agenda started by Sanders — on ending big money in politics and other issues — was bigger than one person and would be stymied without a Democrat in the White House.
Merkley’s plea drew a mix of cheers and boos. Some in the crowd chanted “Bernie! Bernie!” and gave thumbs-down signs while one woman yelled “Noooooooo!” Others loudly applauded the call for unity.
Daniel Brown, a Sanders delegate from Bellingham, turned his back on Merkley.
Brown said Clinton will not be the Democratic nominee until delegates formally vote for her at the national convention in Philadelphia. “Between now and then we don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s premature.”
He said he was tired of being told time and again he had to vote for “the lesser of two evils.”
Mario Brown, one of the organizers of Washington for Bernie, said he was not sure how he’d vote in November but said he couldn’t support Trump. As for Clinton, he said he was not looking forward to “four or eight years of mediocrity.”
On Saturday evening, after many hours of debate and objections over rules, delegates voted for a symbolic resolution endorsing Sanders and rejected an endorsement of Clinton.
Tempers flared during that debate, as one pro-Sanders speaker labeled Clinton a “war criminal.” That comment drew loud boos and shouts from many in the crowd.
The rhetoric drove Clinton supporter Niko Battle to tears. A high-school student and chair of a Mukilteo high-school Democrat organization, Battle said he’d hoped Sanders supporters would show respect for Clinton.
“I’m very upset because I came here with the intention of unifying with my fellow Democrats … we were met with hostility,” he said, calling the convention “an atrocity.”
One Sanders supporter said she was disappointed by the attitude of some of Sanders’ fans.
Jin-Ah Kim, a Seattle delegate, said she voted for the Sanders endorsement but was disgusted by some of the hostility she saw toward Clinton. “It’s extremely divisive,” she said.
Some Clinton supporters said they believe divisions in the party will heal as the November election approaches.
“I think if they (Sanders supporters) were conscientious and caring enough to support a candidate like Bernie Sanders, then they’re conscientious and caring enough to save our country from Donald Trump,” said Melody Curtiss-Cathey, a Clinton delegate from Bainbridge Island.
She said Clinton “is going to make her case for the American public, show her heart,” and overcome any skeptics.
But periodically throughout the day, die-hard Sanders backers tossed barbs at Clinton. Andrew Dial, who ran as a candidate to be a presidential elector — those people who actually cast Electoral College votes after the November election, sarcastically praised Clinton’s success in promoting “endless war” and fracking.
Dial declared he’d refuse to follow the usual practice of presidential electors following the vote of their state. “If elected … I will refuse to vote for Hillary Clinton,” he said, drawing a chorus of boos.
Diversity was a common theme Saturday as Democrats debated changes to party rules and heard from candidates for presidential elector, who touted their identities as members of transgender, gay, Native American and other historically underrepresented communities.
Delegates overwhelmingly passed a change to state party rules aimed at making it easier for transgender people to get elected to leadership positions.
State Democratic Party chair Jaxon Ravens also announced a major change in the way Democrats pick presidential favorites in the state, saying it’s clear the party has “outgrown” the caucus system.
Democrats in Washington have traditionally used caucuses to allocate delegates to presidential candidates. In March’s precinct caucuses, Sanders easily defeated Clinton, winning 73 percent of the delegates.
In the state’s presidential primary last month, Clinton won a majority of votes, but it didn’t give her any more delegates as the Democratic Party ignored the results. Some in the party have criticized sticking with the caucus system, which draws far less participation than a primary.
While stopping short of saying Democrats will embrace the presidential primary, Ravens said the party will explore other, more inclusive options before the next presidential election in 2020.
Ravens said he was not surprised at the passion of Sanders supporters at the convention but predicted the party will come together for the fall election.
“There is unity. It can happen and it will happen. Hillary Clinton is going to be our nominee,” he said. “We’re excited about working with her campaign and making sure she wins the White House in November.”
Washington Republicans this year opted for the first time to use the state’s presidential primary results to allocate 100 percent of their presidential delegates. Trump easily won the May 24 primary, taking 75 percent of the GOP vote, though his opponents had all dropped out of the race by then.
Copyright © 2016 The Seattle Times Company
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/many-washington-sanders-backers-at-state-democratic-convention-not-ready-to-quit/ [with comments]
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An expensive reminder that Sanders still hasn’t dropped out: His Secret Service detail
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders arrives at the Capital Hilton last week, his Secret Service detail in tow, to meet with rival and presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton.
(Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
By John Wagner
June 19, 2016
BURLINGTON, Vt. — When Sen. Bernie Sanders, the now-vanquished Democratic presidential candidate, returns to Capitol Hill to vote Monday, he is expected to be accompanied by his constant traveling companions from the campaign trail: the U.S. Secret Service.
Although Hillary Clinton has clinched the party’s nomination, Sanders retains one of the trappings of a top-notch candidate. A team of agents still guards him at his home, where they’ve constructed a small watch station on the property. They travel with him on commercial and charter flights and use a motorcade to whisk him through cities he visits. And they recently marched alongside him during a gay-pride event here in his home town after the Orlando shootings.
Such round-the-clock protection can cost taxpayers more than $38,000 a day. And with the potential for the Secret Service to be watching over Sanders through the Democratic convention in Philadelphia five weeks from now, the taxpayers may get stuck with a big security bill long after his campaign receded from the daily cable-news cycle.
The continued security presence also reflects a larger reality of Sanders’s muddled standing in the Democratic race. He has virtually no chance of becoming the party’s nominee, and he is no longer pressing his case to Democratic leaders that he should. Yet Sanders remains an active candidate because he has not “suspended” his campaign or taken any other steps that would alter his official status.
“He’s in a kind of political purgatory right now,” said Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic strategist who has worked for neither the Clinton nor Sanders campaign. “He has the perception of still running for president, but he’s not doing that in reality.”
Aides to Sanders say he is most focused now on trying to parlay his unexpectedly strong performance in the Democratic primaries into concrete changes to the party’s platform and upcoming legislative agenda. To advance those goals, Sanders met last week in Washington with Clinton. Staffers are continuing to talk about how she might adopt some of the ideas, such as tuition-free college, that he pressed during his campaign.
Depending on how that effort goes, it’s possible that Sanders could endorse Clinton before the July 25 start of the convention in Philadelphia, Sanders’s campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said.
Even if that happens, Sanders has no plans to suspend his campaign before the convention, when the party’s platform is finalized, Weaver said.
Asked to explain the distinction between endorsing another candidate and dropping out, Weaver shrugged his shoulders and demurred.
The senator from Vermont declined repeated requests over the past week for an interview about the status of his campaign.
Citing a policy not to talk about issues affecting his security, Sanders’s aides declined to publicly discuss the most visible sign of his ongoing candidacy: his Secret Service protection.
Sanders’s protective detail was on full display Tuesday in Washington — the day of the final Democratic primary, in the District — as his motorcade sped from Capitol Hill to the Capital Hilton, near the White House, for the much-anticipated meeting with Clinton, which started shortly after the polls closed.
Sirens from a D.C. police SUV blared as the cars sped to a stop in the driveway, and a half-dozen Secret Service agents in dark suits exited the vehicles. A handful of them glanced around, keeping a protective circle around the gold-colored SUV that Sanders sat in. Another whispered into a microphone on his sleeve. A moment later, the agent guardedly opened the door, and Sanders and his wife, Jane, emerged.
As Sanders and his entourage breezed through the lobby, they were greeted by a large crowd of onlookers who clapped and yelled, “Bernie!”
“There’s no denying that some of the accoutrements that come with campaigns can be intoxicating,” said Jim Manley, a longtime Democratic operative who is supporting Clinton.
But Manley said he thinks there’s a broader explanation for why Sanders remains a candidate at a time when, in his view, the party would be better served by Sanders rallying around Clinton.
“He is just so convinced of the righteousness of his cause that I think he is having trouble giving it all up,” Manley said.
The Secret Service declined to discuss Sanders’s protection on the record, instead pointing to general policies and other documents already in the public realm.
“He’s still a candidate for president, so we continue to protect him,” said one agent, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for the agency.
Even with an expansive 2016 presidential field — mostly on the Republican side — Sanders was one of only four candidates to receive protection from the Secret Service during the primaries this year.
As the spouse of a former president, Clinton was already covered for life. And at various points, the service started providing coverage for Sanders and two Republicans: Donald Trump, the real estate mogul and now the GOP’s presumptive nominee, and Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who dropped out in March after disappointing showings in the first nominating contests.
By law, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to grant protection to “major” presidential candidates who request it, after consultation with an advisory committee of congressional leaders. Often, the candidate will have received threats or has reason to believe that an additional risk exists.
There is no formal trigger for ending a candidate’s protection, but that typically happens once a candidate “suspends” his campaign or otherwise makes clear he is dropping out. A candidate is also free to relieve the agents of their services at any time.
After Carson announced he was suspending his campaign, he parted ways with his Secret Service detail within two days, according to Armstrong Williams, one of his closest friends and an informal adviser. The agents dropped off after traveling with Carson to his home in West Palm Beach, Fla., said Williams, a conservative political commentator.
“He wasted no time,” Williams said of Carson. “His attitude was, ‘There’s no path forward, and I don’t want to spend the taxpayers’ money.”
Although Carson had deep respect for the work of the Secret Service, Williams said the candidate also experienced a sense of liberation once the agents were gone. He was particularly eager to drive his own car again.
“You don’t really have a life,” Williams said. “They’re with you everywhere.”
There have been previous controversies over whether presidential candidates are hanging on to their Secret Service protection for too long.
During the 2012 race, a conservative-taxpayers group called on Republican Newt Gingrich to give up his protection once it appeared that he not longer had a path to the nomination. The push coincided with Gingrich campaign stops in North Carolina at a NASCAR training facility, a racing museum and a zoo.
In a brief email exchange over the weekend, Gingrich said he thinks it is appropriate for Sanders to keep his protection through the Democratic convention, if he is still an official candidate for the party’s nomination.
In its fiscal year 2016 budget request, the Secret Service estimated it would need $123.5 million to carry out its protection of presidential candidates. That included party conventions and debates.
The Service would not discuss costs associated with individual candidates. But in 2008, the agency’s director testified to Congress that the cost averages about $38,000 a day — a figure likely to have increased in the intervening years.
Aides to Sanders did not dispute the figure but argued that the costs associated with his coverage now are dramatically lower than they had been at the height of the campaign, when Sanders was holding several rallies a day in different cities — all of which were staffed by teams of Secret Service agents.
The aides also noted that politicians face real risks, citing the death last week of Jo Cox, a British member of Parliament who was stabbed and shot.
More recently, Sanders has been keeping a relatively low profile and spending most nights at his home in Vermont. Over the weekend, a pair of agents were stationed outside his home in a quiet Burlington neighborhood where many residents still displayed “Bernie 2016” yard signs. The siding on the small Secret Service watch station there matches that of Sanders’s home.
On Monday, Sanders plans to travel to Washington to cast his first votes in the Senate since January, on gun legislation, in the wake of the Orlando massacre.
As of Sunday, Sanders trailed Clinton by 926 delegates, according to the latest Associated Press tally. The only way for him to wrest the nomination from Clinton at the convention would be to flip the allegiances of hundreds of “superdelegates” — Democratic elected officials and other party elites — who have already announced their support for Clinton.
Sanders had vowed to undertake that task, but aides said he now has no plans to do so.
Joe Trippi, a longtime Democratic operative, said it can be “a really tough thing” for any political candidate who has run a long race to walk away from his candidacy.
But Trippi also argued that Sanders may ultimately be doing Clinton a favor by holding off on his exit from the race, particularly given how reluctant some of Sanders’s supporters are to back Clinton.
“It’s going to be a lot easier not to turn on a dime,” Trippi said. “That might be less jarring to his supporters. You slow the train down before you stop it.”
Other Democrats are less charitable.
Marsh said the delay in Sanders’s concession to Clinton is puzzling to many in the party.
“There are only two options,” she said. “He doesn’t want to land the plane, or he doesn’t know how to land the plane.”
Abby Phillip and Karen Tumulty contributed to this report.
© 2016 The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/an-expensive-reminder-that-sanders-still-hasnt-dropped-out-his-secret-service-detail/2016/06/19/a3f717c6-3555-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html [with embedded video clip, and comments]
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A Prophetic Message about Donald Trump
Published on Jun 13, 2016 by Jim Bakker Show [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl0vYj7HgMTuhogiFgy79oQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/MorningsideStudios , http://www.youtube.com/user/MorningsideStudios/videos ]
Mary Colbert and Mark Taylor reveal prophetic messages they received about Donald Trump.
WATCH THE FULL EPISODE:
https://jimbakkershow.com/video/shocking-prophecies-election-day-1/
Aired on June 9, 2016.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCeVCFe1Uro [comments disabled] [and see, generally and in particular the related "Jim Bakker's Guest Warns That Hillary Clinton Has The 'Spirit Of Antichrist'" included at, (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123333782 and preceding and following]
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FULL: Donald Trump Rally Speech Dallas, Texas 6/16/16
Published on Jun 16, 2016 by FOX 10 Phoenix
Watch Donald Trump Rally Speech Dallas, Texas 6/16/16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEKDDuyWILM [with comments]
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FULL: Donald Trump Rally Speech Houston, Texas 6/17/16
Published on Jun 17, 2016 by FOX 10 Phoenix
Watch Donald Trump Rally Speech Houston, Texas 6/17/16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGNzGB9y_Ks [with comments]
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FULL: Donald Trump Rally Speech Phoenix Arizona 6/18/16
Published on Jun 18, 2016 by FOX 10 Phoenix
Watch Donald Trump Rally Speech Phoenix Arizona 6/18/16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4_ci7QR1Bc [with comments]
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Donald Trump Hires The Man Who Used His Saliva To Groom Paul Wolfowitz’s Hair
If there’s anyone who can work on Trump’s hair, it’s this guy.
By Amanda Terkel
06/20/2016 02:27 pm ET
Donald Trump has brought on a new senior campaign aide to oversee his surrogate operation [ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/20/us/politics/donald-trump-hire.html ] who is most known for his unusual way of making sure his boss’ hair looks good.
Kevin Kellems will oversee the network of supporters who go out and defend Trump in the press, according to The New York Times.
Kellems has worked for a number of GOP heavyweights including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Vice President Dick Cheney and perhaps most famously, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.
One of the most memorable scenes from Michael Moore’s 2004 documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” featured Kellems. Wolfowitz, getting ready for a media appearance, sucks on his comb and then runs it through his hair. Kellems then helps out by licking his hand to fix his boss’ hair.
Kellems confirmed to The Washington Post in 2004 that he was that aide helping Wolfowitz, joking, “Would that qualify me for hazardous duty pay [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35673-2004Jul8.html ]?”
Trump has been critical of the administration for which Kellems worked, saying he came out against the Iraq War before the U.S. invaded in 2003. There is no evidence [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-iraq-media-claims_us_5613f859e4b0368a1a613109 ], however, that Trump actually opposed the war until after the invasion.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-violence_us_56e1f16fe4b0b25c91815913 ] and is a serial liar [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-911_565b1950e4b08e945feb7326 ], rampant xenophobe [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/9-outrageous-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-latinos_55e483a1e4b0c818f618904b ], racist [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-racist-examples_us_56d47177e4b03260bf777e83 ], misogynist [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/18-real-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-women_us_55d356a8e4b07addcb442023 ] and birther [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-stephen-colbert-birther_56022a33e4b00310edf92f7a ] who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
Copyright © 2016 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kevin-kellems-donald-trump_us_57682d91e4b015db1bca179c [with comments], http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bnpTK5mgZQ [as embedded; with comments]
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What Donald Trump Learned From Joseph McCarthy’s Right-Hand Man
Roy Cohn in Manhattan in 1982. Mr. Cohn, who made his reputation as a prosecutor in the Rosenberg espionage case and as an aide to Senator Joseph McCarthy, was Mr. Trump’s lawyer for 13 years.
Credit Ron Galella/WireImage
Mr. Trump, left, with Mayor Edward I. Koch of New York and Mr. Cohn at the opening of the Trump Tower in 1983.
Credit Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images
Roy Cohn, right, with Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954. Mr. Trump once said Mr. Cohn was a “vicious” protector.
Credit George Tames/The New York Times
Mr. Cohn and Mr. Trump in an undated photo with Steve Rubell, the co-founder of Studio 54, and Mr. Trump’s first wife, Ivana.
By JONATHAN MAHLER and MATT FLEGENHEIMER
JUNE 20, 2016
The future Mrs. Donald J. Trump [ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us/politics/donald-trump-money-campaign.html ] was puzzled.
She had been summoned to a lunch meeting with her husband-to-be and his lawyer to review a prenuptial agreement. It required that, should the couple split, she return everything — cars, furs, rings — that Mr. Trump might give her during their marriage.
Sensing her sorrow, Mr. Trump apologized, Ivana Trump later testified in a divorce deposition. He said it was his lawyer’s idea.
“It is just one of those Roy Cohn [ http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch//#/Roy+Cohn/ ] numbers,” Mr. Trump told her.
The year was 1977, and Mr. Cohn’s reputation was well established. He had been Senator Joseph McCarthy [ http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/dec-2-1954-anti-communist-senator-joseph-mccarthy-is-condemned/ ]’s Red-baiting consigliere. He had helped send the Rosenbergs [ http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/tu_rosenberg_bio_cohn.html ] to the electric chair for spying and elect Richard M. Nixon president.
Then New York’s most feared lawyer, Mr. Cohn had a client list that ran the gamut from the disreputable to the quasi-reputable: Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno [ http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/29/us/anthony-fat-tony-salerno-80-a-top-crime-boss-dies-in-prison.html ], Claus von Bulow [ http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20085834,00.html ], George Steinbrenner [ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/sports/baseball/14steinbrenner.html ].
But there was one client who occupied a special place in Roy Cohn’s famously cold heart: Donald J. Trump [ http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/donald-trump-on-the-issues.html ].
For Mr. Cohn, who died of AIDS in 1986 [ https://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/science/aids/080386sci-aids.html ], weeks after being disbarred for flagrant ethical violations, Mr. Trump was something of a final project. If Fred Trump got his son’s career started, bringing him into the family business of middle-class rentals in Brooklyn and Queens, Mr. Cohn ushered him across the river and into Manhattan, introducing him to the social and political elite while ferociously defending him against a growing list of enemies.
Decades later, Mr. Cohn’s influence on Mr. Trump is unmistakable. Mr. Trump’s wrecking ball of a presidential bid — the gleeful smearing of his opponents, the embracing of bluster as brand — has been a Roy Cohn number on a grand scale. Mr. Trump’s response to the Orlando massacre [ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-speeches.html ], with his ominous warnings of a terrorist attack that could wipe out the country and his conspiratorial suggestions of a Muslim fifth column in the United States, seemed to have been ripped straight out of the Cohn playbook.
“I hear Roy in the things he says quite clearly,” said Peter Fraser, who as Mr. Cohn’s lover for the last two years of his life spent a great deal of time with Mr. Trump. “That bravado, and if you say it aggressively and loudly enough, it’s the truth — that’s the way Roy used to operate to a degree, and Donald was certainly his apprentice.”
For 13 years, the lawyer who had infamously whispered in McCarthy’s ear whispered in Mr. Trump’s. In the process, Mr. Cohn helped deliver some of Mr. Trump’s signature construction deals, sued the National Football League for conspiring against his client and countersued the federal government — for $100 million — for damaging the Trump name. One of Mr. Trump’s executives recalled that he kept an 8-by-10-inch photograph of Mr. Cohn in his office desk, pulling it out to intimidate recalcitrant contractors.
The two men spoke as often as five times a day, toasted each other at birthday parties and spent evenings together at Studio 54.
And Mr. Cohn turned repeatedly to Mr. Trump — one of a small clutch of people who knew he was gay — in his hours of need. When a former companion was dying of AIDS, he asked Mr. Trump to find him a place to stay. When he faced disbarment, he summoned Mr. Trump to testify to his character.
Mr. Trump says the two became so close that Mr. Cohn, who had no immediate family, sometimes refused to bill him, insisting he could not charge a friend.
“Roy was an era,” Mr. Trump said in an interview, reflecting on his years with Mr. Cohn. “They either loved him or couldn’t stand him, which was fine.”
Mr. Trump was asked if this reminded him of anyone. “Yeah,” he answered. “It does, come to think of it.”
Business, Pleasure and Power
The gossip columnist Cindy Adams, who knew everyone, had no idea who he was.
“This kid is going to own New York someday,” Mr. Cohn told her, gesturing at a tall 20-something bachelor at a dinner party in the early 1970s. “This is Donald Trump.”
“Yeah, so?” Ms. Adams recalled replying.
Mr. Cohn, the son of a prominent New York judge, had taken an uncommon interest in Mr. Trump.
The two had met not long before at a private disco called Le Club, and instantly hit it off while discussing a nettlesome obstacle for Mr. Trump. The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department was suing him and his father, accusing them of refusing to rent to black tenants [ http://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/16/archives/major-landlord-accused-of-antiblack-bias-in-city-us-accuses-major.html ]. Mr. Trump told Mr. Cohn that their lawyers were urging them to settle.
“Tell them to go to hell and fight the thing in court,’” Mr. Trump later recalled Mr. Cohn advising him.
Mr. Trump did just that, with Mr. Cohn as his lawyer. Not only did Mr. Cohn countersue the government for $100 million, he filed a blistering affidavit on Mr. Trump’s behalf, mocking the case. “The Civil Rights Division did not file a lawsuit,” Mr. Cohn wrote. “It slapped together a piece of paper for use as a press release.” The Trumps ultimately settled the case by agreeing to make apartments available to minority renters, while admitting no wrongdoing.
For Mr. Trump, the benefits of his new representation were obvious. Mr. Cohn was one of the most famous and feared lawyers in America. He would later appear on the cover of Esquire beneath an ironic halo, and earn a posthumous parody on “The Simpsons.”
But Mr. Cohn saw something in Mr. Trump, too.
“He could sniff out a power-to-be, Roy could,” said Susan Bell, Mr. Cohn’s longtime secretary.
After helping convict the Rosenbergs as a young federal prosecutor and then working in Washington as a top aide to McCarthy, Mr. Cohn had returned to New York, starting a boutique practice in his shabby but elegant townhouse on East 68th Street.
The division of labor in the firm was clear.
“We called him the rainmaker,” said Michael Rosen, a partner who handled many of the firm’s organized-crime cases. “We did all of the grunt work, if grunt work means preparing the case and trying the case.”
Mr. Cohn lived on the third floor, often traipsing downstairs in his bathrobe well after the workday had begun and taking clients upstairs to a small sun porch. The elevator rarely worked. In the winter, the lawyers stuffed towels around the windows to keep out the cold.
Parties and business meetings tended to blur, with celebrities like Andy Warhol and Estée Lauder crowding in and spilling out. “That townhouse was a workhorse,” recalled Mr. Trump, a familiar presence there himself.
He and Mr. Cohn became social companions, lunching at “21” or spending evenings at Yankee Stadium in the owner’s box of Mr. Steinbrenner, another Cohn client [ http://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/05/sports/winfield-charity-sues-steinbrenner.html ].
After Mr. Fraser entered Mr. Cohn’s life, the two were frequent dinner guests at Donald and Ivana’s Trump Tower apartment, with its Michelangelo-style murals. They were also regulars at Mr. Trump’s box at the Meadowlands, the home of his sports team [ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/sports/football/donald-trumps-less-than-artful-failure-in-pro-football.html ], the New Jersey Generals of the short-lived United States Football League.
Mr. Cohn was the master of ceremonies at a Trump birthday party at Studio 54; years later, Mr. Trump returned the favor with a birthday toast of his own at a party in the atrium of Trump Tower, joking that Mr. Cohn was more bark than bite.
“We just tell the opposition Roy Cohn is representing me, and they get scared,” Mr. Trump said, according to a cousin of Mr. Cohn’s, David L. Marcus, who attended. “He never actually does anything.”
Among the many things Mr. Trump learned from Mr. Cohn during these years was the importance of keeping one’s name in the newspapers. Long before Mr. Trump posed as his own spokesman [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-alter-ego-barron/2016/05/12/02ac99ec-16fe-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html ], passing self-serving tidbits to gossip columnists, Mr. Cohn was known to call in stories about himself to reporters.
It was also through Mr. Cohn that Mr. Trump met the political operative who has played a leading, if behind-the-scenes, role in his campaign: Roger Stone.
When Mr. Stone, the roguish former Nixon adviser and master of the political dark arts, came to New York in 1979 to court support for Ronald Reagan’s presidential bid, he arrived with a box of index cards filled with the names of actors and producers. And Roy Cohn.
“I made an appointment and I pitched him on Reagan, and he said, ‘You have to meet Donald and Fred Trump,’” Mr. Stone recalled in an interview.
Eventually, Mr. Cohn and Mr. Trump became so inseparable that those who could not track down Mr. Cohn knew whom to call.
Once, Mr. Cohn chartered a plane with friends, without Mr. Trump, trashing it during a midair party. He refused to pay. So the airline found Mr. Trump, asking if he could help.
He called Mr. Cohn, more amused than concerned.
“I said, ‘Roy, what are you going to do about this? I mean, you destroyed the plane,’” Mr. Trump recalled. “He said, ‘Eh, we’ll pay them someday.’”
An Invaluable Relationship
By the time Mr. Trump started getting serious with a Czech model named Ivana Winklmayr, Mr. Cohn had become something of an expert on marriage.
“It’s difficult to imagine and admit that the flush of the moment may become the flush of the toilet as the relationship goes down the tubes,” he wrote about the importance of prenuptial agreements in his book “How to Stand Up for Your Rights — and Win!”
According to “Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth,” a book by the journalist Wayne Barrett, Mr. Cohn advised Mr. Trump against marrying Ms. Winklmayr, but insisted that if he must, there had to be a prenuptial agreement. He would handle it himself.
The agreement, completed only weeks before the wedding, did not quantify Mr. Trump’s net worth — “impossible to accurately determine due to the illiquid nature of his holdings” — and took a bearish view of Mr. Trump’s earning potential and a modest view of his tastes.
“Donald’s standard of living is basically simple,” it said, calling Mr. Trump’s preferred lifestyle “neither opulent nor extravagant.”
When the marriage dissolved a few years after Mr. Cohn’s death, Mrs. Trump’s lawyers charged that she had not had proper representation on the prenup. Her initial lawyer had worked for Mr. Cohn on at least one case, and was a frequent passenger on Mr. Cohn’s yacht, the Defiance. The divorce case eventually ended with a settlement.
The prenup was just one of many Trump deals, some more conventional than others, in which Mr. Cohn was intimately involved.
He used his connections to help Mr. Trump secure zoning variances and tax abatements critical to the construction of the Grand Hyatt Hotel and the Trump Plaza.
After one Cohn coup, Mr. Trump rewarded him with a pair of diamond-encrusted cuff links and buttons in a Bulgari box.
And if Mr. Cohn did not always feel comfortable charging a friend for his services, Mr. Trump was hardly one to put up a fight.
“Roy said, ‘I’ll leave it to Donald to give me what he thinks is fair,’” Mr. Fraser recalled of one lengthy Trump tax case in particular. “But, of course, Donald didn’t give him anything.”
Some work would have been difficult to bill. For instance, Mr. Cohn lobbied his friends in the Reagan White House to nominate Mr. Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry to the federal bench. (Questioned last year about this, Mr. Trump said his sister “got the appointment totally on her own merit.”)
“He was a very good lawyer if he wanted to be,” Mr. Trump said in the interview.
Asked about Mr. Cohn in 1980, Mr. Trump was more blunt in his assessment: “He’s been vicious to others in his protection of me.”
Defiant to the End
It started with a cut that would not stop bleeding.
Mr. Cohn’s diagnosis came not long after his former companion, Russell Eldridge, had gotten his. Mr. Eldridge had spent most of his final days in a private suite overlooking Central Park in Mr. Trump’s Barbizon Plaza Hotel.
Ms. Bell, Mr. Cohn’s secretary, recalled that Mr. Trump’s secretary, Norma Foerderer, had billed Mr. Cohn for the room, and later called to say that Mr. Cohn had not paid.
“I said, ‘Guess what, Norma, he’s not going to,’” Ms. Bell said. “And she kind of knew it.”
Mr. Cohn remained in his townhouse. Until the end — and even under interrogation by Mike Wallace on “60 Minutes” — he insisted that he had liver cancer, not AIDS.
He received experimental AZT treatments in Washington and continued working. But his clients could not help but notice that his health was deteriorating.
Mr. Trump started gradually moving cases elsewhere, he said, never telling Mr. Cohn why. “There’s no reason to hurt somebody’s feelings,” he said.
“He was so weak,” Mr. Trump added. “He was so weakened that he really couldn’t do it.”
Mr. Cohn never spoke about Mr. Trump’s decision, but was plainly crushed, according to Ms. Bell. She remembers it happening not gradually, but “overnight.”
Even as his health was failing, Mr. Cohn, whom government prosecutors had unsuccessfully pursued for decades on charges including conspiracy, bribery and fraud, faced a final indignity: He was facing the prospect of disbarment. Among other offenses, he was charged with coercing a dying multimillionaire client — during a late-night visit to the man’s hospital room — to amend his will to make Mr. Cohn an executor of his estate.
The hearings were closed to the public. But true to form, Mr. Cohn, riding to the daily proceedings in a red Cadillac convertible, insisted on a spectacle, describing his accusers as “a bunch of yo-yos just out to smear me up.”
The prominent figures whom Mr. Cohn summoned to testify on his behalf included Barbara Walters and William F. Buckley Jr.
And, of course, Mr. Trump. He described his friend in simple terms.
“If I summed it up in one word,” Mr. Trump told the hearing panel, “I think the primary word I’d use is his loyalty.”
Gaunt, frail and besieged, Mr. Cohn nevertheless managed to attend a dinner with Mr. Fraser at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., shortly after Mr. Trump purchased the property in late 1985. It was a last glimpse at his final, fair-haired project.
“I made Trump successful,” he would occasionally boast, according to Mr. Marcus, Mr. Cohn’s cousin, a former journalist who chronicled Mr. Cohn’s last months for Vanity Fair [ http://www.maryellenmark.com/text/magazines/vanity%20fair/925E-000-007.html ].
In June 1986, Mr. Cohn was disbarred for “unethical,” “unprofessional” and “particularly reprehensible” conduct.
To this day, Mr. Trump rues the outcome. “They only got him because he was so sick,” Mr. Trump said in the interview. “They wouldn’t have gotten him otherwise.”
During his final days, Mr. Cohn called Mr. Trump, ostensibly for no particular reason. “It was just a call: ‘How are things going?’” Mr. Trump recalled. “Roy was the kind of guy — I don’t think he ever thought he was dying, frankly.”
About a week later, in August 1986, Mr. Trump received another call.
Mr. Trump hung up the phone, repeating the news to an associate in his office: Roy Cohn was dead [ http://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/03/obituaries/roy-cohn-aide-to-mccarthy-and-fiery-lawyer-dies-at-59.html ].
“I said, ‘Wow, that’s the end of a generation,’” Mr. Trump remembered. “‘That’s the end of an era.’”
Mr. Fraser inherited all of Mr. Cohn’s possessions: the townhouse, his weekend place in Greenwich, Conn., his Rolls-Royce, his private plane and much more. But the Internal Revenue Service, collecting on Mr. Cohn’s tax debts, confiscated nearly everything.
He did get to keep the cuff links Mr. Trump had given Mr. Cohn. Years later, Mr. Fraser had them appraised; they were knockoffs, he said.
Mr. Fraser soon returned to his native New Zealand, where he now works as a conservationist at the Auckland Zoo. He has not spoken with Mr. Trump since Mr. Cohn’s death, but he has no doubt that if his former lover were still alive, he would be an enthusiastic supporter of the Trump campaign.
“Having trained or mentored someone who became president,” he said, “that would have been quite exciting for Roy.”
Reporting was contributed by Michael Barbaro, Steve Eder, Maggie Haberman and Megan Twohey. Kitty Bennett contributed research.
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New Poll Shows Hillary Clinton Holding Edge on Donald Trump
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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-monmouth-poll.html
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JUNE 20, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us/politics/corey-lewandowski-donald-trump.html
Donald Trump Calls for Profiling to Stop Terrorists
JUNE 19, 2016
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JUNE 13, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-speeches.html
© 2016 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us/politics/donald-trump-roy-cohn.html
===
Elizabeth Warren DESTROYS Donald Trump at New Hampshire Democratic Convention - Full Speech 06/18/2016
Published on Jun 19, 2016 by Feed The Beast [ / , ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppVZM8cL2YE [with comment] [also at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8LJGs2b9IY (with comments) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct_OofLIkas (slightly clipped at the start; no comments yet), and included in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oGyA5Jf75g (with comment)] [and see also in particular (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123392039 and preceding and following]
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Vice President Biden Deliver Remarks at the Center For A New American Security Annual Conference
Published on Jun 20, 2016 by FOX 10 Phoenix
Vice President Biden Deliver Remarks at the Center For A New American Security Annual Conference, Washington, DC, June 20, 2016.
Center For A New American Security
http://conference.cnas.org/
https://www.youtube.com/user/CNASdc , http://www.youtube.com/user/CNASdc/videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_69yj5iHok [with comments] [audio-only at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOYGLvsvCfU (title taken/text adapted from; comments disabled)]
===
Presidential Primaries
Democrats
2,383 delegates needed to win
Through the concluding District of Columbia primary of June 14, 2016:
Pledged Delegates:
Clinton 2,220
Sanders 1,831
Clinton lead 389
Superdelegates:
Clinton 591
Sanders 48
Clinton lead 543
Total Delegates:
Clinton 2,811
Sanders 1,879
Clinton lead 932
Additional Delegates Needed:
Clinton (428 over)
Sanders 504
[(drawn from) as currently at] http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2016/primaries [and for comparison, see e.g. the NBC delegate tracker at http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/ and the CNN delegate estimate page at http://edition.cnn.com/election/ ]
===
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Published on Jun 9, 2016 by PBS NewsHour [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6ZFN9Tx6xh-skXCuRHCDpQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/PBSNewsHour , http://www.youtube.com/user/PBSNewsHour/videos ]
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke with the media outside of the White House on Thursday after a meeting with President Barack Obama. Sen. Sanders said he would look to a full count of the California primary's votes and looks forward to Washington, D.C.'s Democratic primary on Tuesday. He also added that he was planning to meet with presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton in the near future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7rTjIrK9uk [comments disabled] [also at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D3KE5q0oJE (with comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDa3zWmVcjU (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsvSQNecJkQ (with comments)]
--
Hillary Clinton
@HillaryClinton
President Obama endorses Hillary: "I don’t think there’s ever been someone so qualified to hold this office."
President Obama is in. Are you?
President Obama is proud to support Hillary Clinton — add your name to join him on our team.
hillaryclinton.com [ https://www.hillaryclinton.com/are-you-in , with the YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9W0F2mz1jc (no comments yet), embedded]
10:50 AM - 9 Jun 2016
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/740964361552941056 [with comments]
*
Hillary Clinton
@HillaryClinton
Honored to have you with me, @POTUS. I'm fired up and ready to go! -H
10:56 AM - 9 Jun 2016
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/740965834470916097 [with comments]
*
President Obama offers hearty endorsement of Hillary Clinton
The Rachel Maddow Show
6/9/16
Rachel Maddow looks back at some past presidential endorsements and their attendant political drama and reports on President Obama's endorsement today of Hillary Clinton for president. Duration: 5:05
Obama offers a formal endorsement of Clinton; president also meets with Sanders
June 9, 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/seeking-to-exit-on-his-own-terms-bernie-sanders-comes-to-washington-thursday/2016/06/09/0b252f10-2e39-11e6-9de3-6e6e7a14000c_story.html [with embedded video, and (over 8,000) comments]
President Barack Obama Formally Backs Hillary Clinton
Jun 9 2016
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/president-barack-obama-formally-backs-hillary-clinton-n589091 [with embedded videos, and comments]
©2016 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/obama-offers-hearty-endorsement-of-clinton-702704195553 [show transcript at http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2016-06-09 ] [the above YouTube of the segment for the moment at least at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzLDiZMFHTg (no comments yet)]
===
Sen. Elizabeth Warren - ACS Convention 2016
Published on Jun 9, 2016 by American Constitution Society [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2Q0BU-oK0Q11mOfMVlJrCw / http://www.youtube.com/user/acslaw1776 , http://www.youtube.com/user/acslaw1776/videos ]
ACS National Convention 2016
Washington, D.C., June 9-11, 2016
https://www.acslaw.org/convention/2016
Convention Schedule
http://www.acslaw.org/sites/default/files/2016%20Convention%20Schedule%20(Program).pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVyfuR0n3sM [with comments] [and see in particular (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123213585 and following,
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=122890755 and preceding and following]
--
Vice President Joe Biden - ACS Convention 2016
Published on Jun 9, 2016 by American Constitution Society
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhoQeS3haFE [with comments]
===
Bernie Sanders FANTASTIC Rally in Washington, DC June 9, 2016
Published on Jun 17, 2016 by Special Report [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0jXd7dzjiEY6Al4ISJ1ryg , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0jXd7dzjiEY6Al4ISJ1ryg/videos ]
Bernie Sanders FANTASTIC Rally at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, June 9, 2016.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV6ri3b0yBc [Bernie's performance begins at c. the 13:30 mark; no comments yet] [also at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yG0L2rADHM (with comments), and, with less or none of the introductory remarks, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0JZkxtjces (no comments yet), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm89-Qcq7PU (no comments yet), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZRqreXt5mo (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThRjRNvYc8c (with comments)]
*
Bernie Sanders Gives A Speech Divorced From Reality
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), speaks during a campaign rally in Washington, D.C.
Mark Wilson/via/Getty Images
Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during A Future to Believe In rally on June 9, 2016, in Washington, DC.
MOLLY RILEY/AFP/Getty Images
He rallied supporters with a typical stump speech in Washington ahead of next week’s primary — the last of the season.
By Samantha Lachman
06/09/2016 09:38 pm ET | Updated Jun 10, 2016
WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders delivered his typical stump speech at a campaign rally Thursday evening, choosing not to acknowledge President Barack Obama’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton, his meeting with the president, or Clinton’s claim to have won enough delegates for the Democratic nomination.
“Next Tuesday, here in Washington, you will be having the very last primary of the Democratic nominating process,” Sanders told a crowd outside Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. “It would be extraordinary if the people of Washington, our nation’s capital, stood up and told the world that they are ready to lead this country into a political revolution.”
It’s not surprising that Sanders would want to pretend Washington voters could change the reality of the Democratic race. But his speech — which didn’t mention the words “Hillary Clinton” or “convention” — seemed uniquely frozen in time. A recording of his remarks, except for the part about Washington at the end, would give few clues about when or where they had been given. He didn’t mention that earlier in the day, Obama endorsed Clinton, who has won enough delegates for the Democratic nomination, or that he met at the White House with Obama and pledged to work closely with Clinton to defeat GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump.
Sanders was somewhat more reflective than in past speeches, noting that his campaign had won 22 primaries and caucuses, garnered over 10 million votes, and broken small-dollar fundraising records. He listed places he had visited — from Flint, Michigan, to Pine Ridge, South Dakota — and implicitly advised the Democratic Party that could learn from his campaign’s successes.
“We are here in mid-June and we are still standing,” he said. “We have showed the world you can run a winning national campaign without relying on Wall Street and fossil fuel and drug company donations.”
Sanders decried corporate money in politics, income inequality, unemployment, climate change, federal drug policy, jobs transferred out of the U.S. and student debt. He pledged to reform the immigration system, health care system, campaign finance system and criminal justice system. (And other systems.)
“Young people are catching on. They are the future of America, and they are damn determined to shape the future of America,” he said. “Real change never takes place from the top-down, it takes place from the bottom-up.”
Roughly 3,000 Sanders supporters chanted, “Thank you, Bernie!” at the beginning of his speech, and, “Stay in the race!” near the end, as the sun set. They were as defiant as Sanders was.
The Huffington Post had a difficult time finding supporters in the crowd who would admit they were ready to vote for Clinton, the party’s presumptive nominee, in November.
“Hillary Clinton needs to win our votes, which means adopting some of Bernie’s platform,” said Keith Melchers, a 57-year-old D.C. resident, mentioning Sanders’ proposal for free public university tuition. “She’s got to take on some of his agenda … I’m going to hold out to see what she does. I’m open, but it can’t be just, ‘Hey you’ve got to automatically support me.’ She has to come a little bit our way on our platform.”
Susan Shufelt, a 69-year-old from Maryland, said she doesn’t think she could vote for Clinton.
“I would feel terrible if [Sanders] just endorsed Hillary and that was it,” Shufelt said. “I want him to do something that will help get money out of politics and help reduce income inequality, the things he talked about during the campaign. I’m not hopeful because HIllary is so connected to money, her husband has his foundation, I don’t see any hope with her. … But I promised my friends I will keep an open mind, those who are a little less rigid than me.”
Melchers said he’d be “delighted” if Clinton chose Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as her running mate. Others, however, said they didn’t think Clinton could pick a vice presidential candidate who could make them feel comfortable with her nomination.
And many said they weren’t ready to even consider the possibility of voting for Clinton in the fall. They made noises of frustration at the question and characterized support for Clinton as “giving in.”
“It’s the idea that we send a message to the establishment government that just because you chose Hillary, we’re not going to bow down to a lesser evil,” said Sufian Abulohom, 20, a student at American University. “It’s sending a message if you don’t pick Bernie Sanders, we’re not voting. … He’s going to send a message [at the Democratic convention] when he goes that he’s the best candidate to beat Donald Trump.”
Not all of Sanders’ fans were so adamantly against Clinton. HuffPost found one supporter — 17-year-old Virginian Meghan Gibbons — who said she would vote for the former secretary of state in November.
“I’ve always been a big Bernie supporter so I came out to see what his last, final hurrah was like,” said Gibbons. “I think he should rally behind Hillary, if nothing other than to try to prevent Trump from getting into office.”
But April Washington, a 41-year-old D.C. resident, said she wasn’t afraid enough of a Trump victory in the general election to back Clinton.
“Let the chips fall where they may, with that,” Washington said.
Copyright © 2016 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-washington_us_5759fdbfe4b00f97fba7e023 [with embedded video report, and comments]
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Sanders, Clinton and, er, President Trump?
Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times
By Nicholas Kristof
JUNE 9, 2016
Bernie Sanders has had a stunning impact this year, helping set the political agenda and winning the passionate embrace of a demographic a quarter his age. A socialist, Jewish, non-pandering candidate who didn’t kiss babies but lectured their parents on social justice won 22 states. But now he has lost. It’s time for him and his followers to stop sniping and start uniting.
Sanders has said he will ultimately support the Democratic ticket, and I’m sure he intends to. But for now he’s still dividing more than coalescing.
In a New York Times/CBS News poll last month, nearly one-fourth of Sanders supporters said that in a Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump matchup, they would either vote for Trump (which suggests bipolar disorder!) or stay home. That figure is inflated by bitterness and resentment, but if some Sandernistas sit on their hands this fall they could help elect a man antithetical to everything they stand for.
At this point, Sanders has essentially zero chance of becoming our next president. Meanwhile, there is a modest risk that continued Democratic warfare will cost Clinton the election. The upshot is that continuing to tilt at windmills is many, many times more likely to elect Trump than Sanders.
We’ve seen this before. In 1968, liberal disenchantment with the Democratic nominee, Hubert Humphrey, assisted in the election of Richard Nixon. In 1980, Edward Kennedy’s endless challenge to Jimmy Carter undermined Carter and probably gave Ronald Reagan a lift.
And in 2000, many liberals regarded Al Gore the way some see Clinton today, as a flip-flopper short on inspiration and convictions. So a small number voted for a third-party candidate, Ralph Nader, probably helping put George W. Bush in office.
Nader, whom I admire for his transformational impact on consumer rights, disagrees: He tells me that it’s absurd to blame him for Bush’s election, and he wants Sanders to continue his campaign.
“Why would he want to lose his bargaining power?” Nader asks, suggesting that by staying in the race, Sanders can influence the Democratic platform and Clinton’s choice of a running mate. Anyway, he says, “Trump’s going to implode.”
He’s probably right on that count. I would bet that Trump will lose, and I’d even give two-to-one odds. But I remember how my mother in 1980, as a fan of President Carter, was overjoyed when Reagan became the Republican nominee since she figured that assured Carter’s re-election. She wasn’t so happy a few months later.
Presidential campaigns are driven in part by surprises: What if there is a new wave of Central American refugees, or a terror attack by a Muslim recently admitted to the U.S.? Either would bolster Trump’s chances.
The success of both Trump and Sanders this year should inspire humility on the part of all of us about predicting election results. I agree with Nader that it’s almost unthinkable for Trump to be elected. Then again, it once was unthinkable that he would win the Republican nomination.
Sanders supporters should also remember that they agree at least in part with Clinton on Wall Street excesses, income inequality and college debt. Likewise, whatever their distaste for the Clintons, they probably share her views on reproductive health, on Supreme Court nominees, on inclusiveness toward Muslims and Mexican-Americans, on immigration reform, on early-childhood investments, on a stronger social safety net, on women’s rights around the world, on reducing mass incarceration and on a global pact to confront climate change.
Senator Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat who has been the only senator to back Sanders, acknowledges that now “we have a nominee.” He tells me that Sanders will continue his primary race through the Washington, D.C., vote next week but ultimately will focus on party unity.
“When I talked to Bernie when he was first thinking about running, he made it absolutely clear that he didn’t want to do anything that would result in the journey that we experienced with Ralph Nader,” Merkley said. “He will do everything possible to make sure that Trump is not in the Oval Office, and to do ‘everything possible’ certainly means that we’ve got to come together not just as a formality but in an inclusive, emphatic, unified fashion.”
In 2008, at about this time, Clinton stepped up and gave a powerful endorsement of Barack Obama. But she and Obama agreed on almost everything, while Sanders disagrees with Clinton on some issues and still exudes scorn for the Clinton campaign.
“Our struggle continues,” Sanders said in a new fund-raising email on Wednesday. Speaking in California on Tuesday evening, he did little to discourage his audience as it booed mention of Clinton.
That’s just irresponsible. And now that Clinton has won a majority of pledged delegates, it’s a violation of Sanders’s own principles to try to get superdelegates to vote for him rather than for the people’s choice.
“Defying history is what this campaign has been about,” Sanders said on Tuesday, but at this point he’s also defying his own values — and, just maybe, bolstering the prospects of the candidate who is the anti-Sanders.
I understand the passion and heartache of his followers, but I watched such idealism help elect Nixon and George W. Bush, and I flinch at the thought of similar idealists this year helping to elect a President Trump.
© 2016 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/09/opinion/sanders-clinton-and-er-president-trump.html [with comments]
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Sanders Writes a Chapter in the Behavioral Science Textbook
Echo chamber.
Photographer: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
By Cass R. Sunstein
June 9, 2016 9:34 AM EDT
Bernie Sanders won't be the Democratic presidential nominee, yet so far he refuses to concede to Hillary Clinton, pledging [ http://time.com/4361146/bernie-sanders-democratic-primary-speech-transcript/ ] to "continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can get.” This is more than just stubbornness: Even if he bows out soon, Sanders and his supporters appear to believe more strongly than ever that the system is rigged against him and that Clinton is a captive of the banks -- and that Democratic voters have been rising up in support of his “political revolution, ” regardless of the actual vote count.
What happened? The Sanders campaign has become a classic example of the phenomenon of “group polarization,” arguably more so than any campaign in recent memory -- even Donald Trump's, which has greatly benefited from the same phenomenon.
Research on group polarization finds that when like-minded people get together, they will tend to go to extremes. If group members favor Britain leaving the European Union, or an increase in the minimum wage, or stricter sentences for drug offenses, their conversations with one another will lead them to greater extremism. Echo chambers are a breeding ground for polarization -- and political campaigns often end up as echo chambers, especially in their late stages.
Part of what drives group polarization is that people care about their reputations: If people in your group think that climate change isn’t occurring, or that Clinton is a captive of the banks, you risk their good will if you disagree. And if people hide their private misgivings, and don’t tell others what they think, the group as a whole is likely to end up in a more extreme position.
That promotes another dynamic behind group polarization: lopsided information. If most people in your group think that the minimum wage should be increased, you’ll hear a lot of arguments in favor of increasing it, and you won’t hear many arguments the other way. And if people are listening to one another, they are likely to be moved in the direction of increasing the minimum wage, simply because those are the dominant arguments within the group.
Which brings us to Sanders. Many of his supporters are intensely committed to him, and they listen mostly to one another. At this point in time, it’s not exactly comfortable for them to say, to one another or to the candidate, that Clinton could be a fine president, even a great one, or that she is animated by many of the same values as Sanders. From his closest friends and advisers, Sanders is probably hearing a lot less of that than he should.
Even more important, the pressures of group polarization suggest that within the Sanders campaign, people have been spreading information that puts Clinton in the least favorable light, one that most sharpens the contrast with Sanders. Instead of seeing the two as representing different strands of the party, Sanders supporters have increasingly argued that their own candidate is on the side of the American people while Clinton isn’t. In those circumstances, is it any wonder that Sanders has been reluctant to terminate his campaign?
It’s true, of course, that after investing heart and soul, many presidential candidates are reluctant to bring things to a halt. It’s also true that Sanders is not exactly famous for his willingness to yield or to take a step back. But his improbably successful campaign has been spurred and energized by group polarization -- and you can’t explain his otherwise baffling persistence without reference to the potentially destructive effects of the political echo chamber.
Cass R. Sunstein, the former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, is the Robert Walmsley university professor at Harvard Law School and a Bloomberg View columnist.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
To contact the author of this story:
Cass R Sunstein at csunstein1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Christopher Flavelle at cflavelle@bloomberg.net
©2016 Bloomberg L.P.
http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-09/sanders-writes-a-chapter-in-the-behavioral-science-textbook [with comments]
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Warren: I'm ready to get in this fight for Hillary Clinton
The Rachel Maddow Show
6/9/16
Senator Elizabeth Warren offers her endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president of the United States, and talks with Rachel Maddow about the Democratic primary and her objections to Donald Trump. Duration: 10:42
Elizabeth Warren Endorses Hillary Clinton on Rachel Maddow Show
Jun 9 2016
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/elizabeth-warren-endorse-clinton-rachel-maddow-show-n589236 [with this segment and another video embedded, and comments]
Elizabeth Warren Endorses Clinton and Goes Taunt-for-Taunt With Trump
JUNE 9, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-hillary-clinton-donald-trump.html [with embedded video clip, and comments]
Elizabeth Warren is ready – in more ways than one
06/10/16
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/elizabeth-warren-ready-more-ways-one [with this segment embedded, and comments]
Clinton, In Bid For Party Unity, Holds Meeting With Warren
06/10/2016 Updated Jun 10, 2016
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/warren-to-meet-with-clinton_us_575ab83ee4b0e39a28ad4d01 [with comments]
©2016 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/warren-i-m-ready-to-get-in-this-fight-702681155566 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVxQ9B4pVWk [with comments] [show transcript at http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2016-06-09 ]
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Warren: No VP conversations with Clinton
The Rachel Maddow Show
6/9/16
Senator Elizabeth Warren talks with Rachel Maddow about whether she has heard from the Clinton campaign about a possible running mate role, and how the Democratic primary process helped shift the political landscape. Duration: 13:05
©2016 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/warren-no-vp-conversations-with-clinton-702686787777 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w4wzAmEDsE [with comments] [show transcript at http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2016-06-09 ]
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Elizabeth Warren's Secret Endorsement of Bernie Sanders
Published on Feb 1, 2016 by The Young Turks [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1yBKRuGpC1tSM73A0ZjYjQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks/videos , http://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks/videos ]
Elizabeth Warren has not officially endorsed either Bernie Sanders nor Hillary Clinton. The timing and content of her recent speech indicate that she would much prefer Bernie. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
"Elizabeth Warren (remember her?) has so far withheld an endorsement in the Democratic presidential primary, though there’s little doubt where her loyalty lies. After all, it was the decision by the Massachusetts senator to forego a run that compelled her neighbor to the north, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, to pick up her populist critique and carry it into the race against Hillary Clinton. Sanders has since built the message — of hostility toward what he frames as entrenched corporatism and the campaign finance system that sustains it — into a bona fide grassroots movement. Now on the eve of his first test against Clinton, in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, Warren is reemerging. What she’s offering in lieu of an endorsement is a more nuanced argument for Sanders than the one he’s made for himself.
Last week, on the sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, Warren took the Senate floor to decry it for allowing dark money to flood back into campaigns. She didn’t mention Sanders by name, but as she concluded, she channeled him: “A new presidential election is upon us,” she said. “Anyone who shrugs and claims that change is just too hard has crawled into bed with the billionaires who want to run this country like some private club.””*
*Read more here: http://fortune.com/2016/01/30/elizabeth-warren-on-bernie-sanders-and-corporate-criminals/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJQdBaeGQOg [with comments]
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Our Next Vice President?
Published on Feb 9, 2016 by The Young Turks
Will Progressive champion Senator Elizabeth Warren join the Democratic ticket as Vice President? The Young Turks panel of Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian, John Iadarola and Ben Mankiewicz discuss why Bernie Sanders should pick Senator Warren as his VP. Warren for VP! Do you agree with TYT's opinion? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiCY3MKoiZw [with comments]
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Elizabeth Warren Asked About Hillary Clinton & It's Devastating
Published on Feb 28, 2015 by The Young Turks
"It's no secret that Hillary Clinton badly wants the approval of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (and the liberal wing of the party she represents) in advance of the former Secretary of State's near-certain 2016 bid. There was the meeting between the two at Clinton's DC house back in December and the various rhetorical bows Clinton has made to Warren's populist rhetoric over the past few months.
Given that recent history, what Warren had to say about Clinton during an appearance on Al Sharpton's MSNBC show Tuesday night has to be disappointing to Clintonworld. Here's the exchange:
Sharpton: A lot of progressives have questions about whether she'll [Hillary Clinton] be a progressive warrior. what would you say to them?
Warren: You know, I think that's what we gotta see. I want to hear what she wants to run on and what she says she wants to do. that's what campaigns are supposed to be about."*
Um, ok. If you look up the definition of "lukewarm," you find Warren's statement."* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
*Read more here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/25/elizabeth-warrens-answer-on-hillary-clintons-liberal-credentials-wasnt-convincing-at-all/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsa7fd3YC7w [with comments]
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Elizabeth Warren Endorses Hillary Clinton
Published on Jun 8, 2016 by The Young Turks
In the aftermath of the California primary, Elizabeth Warren is reported to be ready to endorse Hillary Clinton. Progressives are disappointed in Warren for not endorsing Bernie Sanders. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
“NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, June 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren will soon endorse presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and, while not currently interested in serving as her running mate, has not ruled it out, several sources close to Warren told Reuters.
Advisers to Warren, a fiery critic of Wall Street and a popular figure among progressive Democrats, have been in close contact with Clinton’s campaign team and the conversations have increased in frequency in recent weeks, the sources said.
Warren, 66, represents her home state of Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate. The sources said that foremost in her thinking is how best to help the Democratic Party defeat the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election and advance issues such as income inequality which top Warren’s agenda.
An endorsement of Clinton could come within a week or two, one of the sources said. Clinton has been appealing for Democratic Party unity. On Twitter over the weekend, Warren echoed that call and emphasized the importance of the party coming together to beat Trump.
“Get ready, Donald,” she tweeted. “We’re coming.”*
*Read more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elizabeth-warren-hillary-clinton-endorsement_us_5758a27ae4b0ced23ca6ffec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs8QqAtrh9c [with (nearly 4,000) comments]
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Will Bernie Voters Back Hillary In General Election? (POLL)
Published on Jun 8, 2016 by The Young Turks
We’ve talked about what the media and politicians think of Bernie Sanders, but now we want to know what you’re thinking. Will you vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election if Bernie Sanders is not an option? Let us know in our poll. Cenk Uygur and John Iadarola (ThinkTank), hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
"“I will never support Hillary Clinton,” said Adam Burch, 28, of Minneapolis. “I identify as a socialist. She stands for everything that I’m against. It’s Bernie or nothing.”
Burch isn’t alone. He’s part of a group on social media called Grassroots Action for Bernie that has promised to support only Sanders in the election, using the hashtag “BernieorBust” to spread its message. Similarly, 50,000 people have signed an online pledge to write in Sanders’ name or vote for the Green Party candidate in the general election if the former Secretary of State wins the nomination...
Many of Sanders’ voters say they have felt slighted by the Democratic Party, pointing to DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s support for Clinton in 2008 and her investigation into the DNC voter files a week ahead of the Iowa caucuses, which they believe was an effort to undermine Sanders’ chances at the nomination.”*
*Read more here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-supporters-wont-vote-hillary_us_56d7571ae4b0871f60edb9fe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5pYdQlwM-A [with (over 5,000) comments]
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Will Bernie Fans Vote For Hillary? (Poll RESULTS)
Published on Jun 9, 2016 by The Young Turks
We asked you if you’d vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election. The results are now in: no. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
View original video to vote in poll here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5pYdQlwM-A [just above]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwOIY3p30-c [with (over 5,000) comments]
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Progressive Warrior Elizabeth Warren Destroyed By The Establishment?
Published on Jun 10, 2016 by The Young Turks
Is Senator Elizabeth Warren still a REAL Progressive, has she been corrupted by Washington D.C.? How does Elizabeth Warren, someone who fought the banks endorse Hillary Clinton who is so in the pocket of the banking industry? Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, Jimmy Dore and Mark Thompson discuss on The Young Turks power panel. Do you agree with TYT’s opinion? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMCFYzSOwhQ [with comments]
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Vice President Elizabeth Warren?
Published on Jun 10, 2016 by The Young Turks
Rumors are abound that Elizabeth Warren endorsed Hillary Clinton in order to get added to the 2016 ticket as Vice President. Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, Jimmy Dore and Mark Thompson discuss on The Young Turks power panel. Do you agree with TYT’s opinion? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
“Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton met privately Friday morning, according to two knowledgeable Democrats, just hours after the Massachusetts senator formally endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee.
The sit-down is fueling speculation about Warren’s prospects as a potential vice presidential pick.
The women have had several conversations over the past month, including one that lasted around half an hour, sources told The Washington Post. The conversations were broad and focused on large topics and issues, rather than the nitty-gritty of the campaign. Their staffs have been engaged in more tactical discussions.”*
*Read more here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/06/10/warren-to-meet-with-clinton-this-morning-fueling-vp-speculation/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ylMmlIhrfg [with comments]
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Elizabeth Warren On MSNBC: I'm Ready To Fight For Hillary Clinton
Published on Jun 10, 2016 by The Young Turks
Why Did Elizabeth Warren endorse Hillary Clinton on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC? Are Bernie Sanders supporters right to be angry with Senator Elizabeth Warren? Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, Jimmy Dore and Mark Thompson discuss on The Young Turks power panel. Do you agree with TYT’s opinion? Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
“Senator Elizabeth Warren ended months of neutrality in the Democratic primary Thursday and endorsed Hillary Clinton, urging supporters of Bernie Sanders to get behind the presumptive nominee and help defeat Donald Trump.
Warren’s endorsement followed President Obama’s by just a few hours, but it could be equally as important in rallying a liberal base that is suspicious of Clinton because of her warm relations with Wall Street and a track record of supporting international free trade deals.
“I’m ready,” Warren said in an interview with The Globe. “I’m ready to jump in this fight and make sure that Hillary Clinton is the next president of the United States and be sure that Donald Trump gets nowhere near the White House.””*
*Read more here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/06/09/elizabeth-warren-endorse-hillary-clinton-msnbc-tonight/QrjxIM24ZY7EbiXDb9mMAN/story.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0gXSMLdzzc [with comments]
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Elizabeth Warren Hurt America by Endorsing Hillary Clinton and not Bernie Sanders
Published on Jun 10, 2016 by H. A. Goodman [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDB5XReUyyqt-FTNdkzFN-A , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDB5XReUyyqt-FTNdkzFN-A/videos ]
My name is H. A. Goodman and I’m an author, columnist, and journalist www.hagoodman.com This segment relates to my latest MSNBC appearance https://www.facebook.com/hagoodman.journalist/videos/263154734036649/
My 2014 Huffington Post article about Warren as president http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/elizabeth-warren-not-hill_b_5491171.html
My article in The Hill about Warren as president
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/236935-democrats-need-elizabeth-warren
My article in Salon about Bernie and Warren
http://www.salon.com/2016/02/09/hillary_clintons_political_machine_has_been_busted_thanks_to_bernie_sanders_and_elizabeth_warren/
I’ve written more, on my website.
Also, the White House OFFICIALLY called Clinton’s FBI email probe a “criminal investigation” http://dailycaller.com/2016/06/09/white-house-fbi-investigation-into-hillary-is-criminal-video/
And http://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2016/06/09/white-house-admits-fbi-probe-of-hillarys-emails-is-a-criminal-investigation-n2176225
Yes, President Obama and Senator Warren endorsed a presidential candidate under “criminal investigation”
Immediately after endorsing Clinton, President Obama met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2016/06/09/obama-endorses-hillary-immediately-meets-with-loretta-lynch-n2176214
Obama didn’t want Clinton as Secretary of State, and Christopher Hitchens explained in 2008 that she wasn’t qualified—Hitchens was right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CrYBhFREtw
Also…
CNN International appearances:
http://www.snappytv.com/tc/1571174
http://www.snappytv.com/tc/1571164
CNN New Day appearance:
https://www.facebook.com/hagoodman.journalist/posts/219016788450444?notif_t=like
Why is Clinton even more frightening than our national embarrassment, Trump?
Clinton’s emails had intel from at least 5 American intelligence agencies: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-hillary-clintons-emails-included-data-from-five-intelligence-agencies/
Clinton had 22 Top Secret emails with SAP intelligence on her server, in addition to North Korean Nuclear intelligence:
“The other concerned North Korean nuclear weapons programs, according to officials.” http://www.cbsnews.com/news/22-top-secret-hillary-clinton-emails-wont-be-released/
“WASHINGTON — A special intelligence review of two emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton received as secretary of state on her personal account — including one about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/us/politics/second-review-says-classified-information-was-in-hillary-clintons-email.html
Clinton has National Geospatial Agency satellite photos, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-clinton-emails-idUSMTZSAPEC2O2MGLXL
And… “The NGA has also been a key player in analyzing radar and overhead imagery of Iran’s nuclear facilities.” https://news.clearancejobs.com/2013/03/22/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-national-geospatial-intelligence-agency/
NGA also has advanced satellite maps of nuclear weapons programs https://www.nga.mil/MediaRoom/PressReleases/Pages/Antineutrino.aspx
“While the National Security Agency eavesdrops on telephone conversations of Iranian officials and conducts other forms of electronic surveillance, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency analyzes radar imagery and digital images of nuclear sites.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/world/middleeast/iran-intelligence-crisis-showed-difficulty-of-assessing-nuclear-data.html Clinton’s server was unencrypted and terrorists today can hack into computers “Terrorists have shown interest in pursuing hacking skills,” Mr. Mueller said Wednesday in written testimony to a House appropriations subcommittee reviewing the bureau’s budget. “And they may seek to train their own recruits or hire outsiders, with an eye toward pursuing cyberattacks.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/us/fbi-director-warns-about-terrorist-hacking.html HRC advised by neocons http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/opinion/sunday/are-neocons-getting-ready-to-ally-with-hillary-clinton.html Neocons in a Clinton White House http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-trump-panicking-robert-kagan-15329 Trump less hawkish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSEehau09l4 [with comments] [and see in particular (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123061076 and preceding and following,
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=120649949 and preceding (and any future following),
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=119554294 and preceding and following]
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Hillary Clinton Spoke About Reproductive Justice In A Genuinely Intersectional Way
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton with Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, on June 10, 2016 in Washington.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
And she called out Republican hypocrisy on abortion and paid leave.
By Samantha Lachman
06/10/2016 04:50 pm ET | Updated June 13, 2016
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton’s first speech since she won a majority of pledged delegates [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-2016_us_57578847e4b08f74f6c09657 ] in the Democratic presidential race included remarks about how abortion relates to other issues. That’s groundbreaking for a presidential candidate.
The term “reproductive justice” was promoted by the grassroots women of color collective SisterSong [ http://www.trustblackwomen.org/our-work/what-is-reproductive-justice/9-what-is-reproductive-justice ] over a decade ago to describe “the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, social, and economic well-being” of a person. This means considering a broad array of factors [ https://www.law.berkeley.edu/php-programs/courses/fileDL.php?fID=4051 ] that affect a person’s ability to have, not have and/or raise children.
At a Planned Parenthood Action Fund membership event on Friday, Clinton discussed restrictions on abortion access [ https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2016/01/last-five-years-account-more-one-quarter-all-abortion-restrictions-enacted-roe ] and state [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/planned-parenthood-funding_us_5616d54fe4b0082030a1c100 ] and federal-level [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/congress-votes-defund-planned-parenthood_us_568d5a67e4b0cad15e62fda6 ] attempts to defund Planned Parenthood. She reiterated her commitment to repealing the Hyde Amendment [ http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/01/11/why_hillary_clinton_s_call_out_of_the_hyde_amendment_is_so_important.html ], which prevents Medicaid from funding abortions for low-income people. And she noted that the Supreme Court is set to rule by the end of June [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/supreme-court-abortion-rights_us_56d6f857e4b0871f60ed48e6 ] on laws passed by the GOP-controlled Texas legislature that would leave the state with 10 or fewer abortion clinics — and could lead to closed clinics in other states.
“For too long, issues like these have been dismissed by many as ‘women’s issues’ – as though that somehow makes them less worthy, secondary,” Clinton said. “Well, yes, these are women’s issues. They’re also family issues. They’re economic issues. They’re justice issues. They’re fundamental to our country and our future.”
Then, she noted that reproductive rights are inextricable from other progressive priorities, like raising the minimum wage, passing comprehensive immigration reform and equal pay laws, preventing gun violence and challenging systemic racism.
“All the issues we’re talking about today are connected,” she said. “They intersect. And that’s why I’m grateful to the reproductive justice leaders in this room and across America. Because you know that all those issues go straight to that fundamental question: whether we believe women and families of all races and backgrounds and income levels deserve an equal shot in life.”
Clinton’s speech was a powerful reminder that the concept of “choice” is hollow for low-income people who may not actually have a choice when it comes to terminating their pregnancies because they can’t afford an abortion.
“Let’s repeal laws like the Hyde Amendment that make it nearly impossible for low-income women — disproportionately women of color — to exercise their full reproductive rights,” she said.
The Democratic Party platform advocated for access to abortion “regardless of ability to pay” in 2012, but reproductive justice advocates have had trouble convincing Democrats to expend the political capital necessary to push for the Hyde Amendment’s repeal in a Republican-controlled Congress.
Clinton also noted the hypocrisy of Republicans who would simultaneously force pregnancy upon women who do not want to remain pregnant while opposing guaranteed paid family leave and policies that would help reduce unintended pregnancy in the first place. The United States is the only developed country in the world that does not guarantee some period of paid family leave for new parents.
“Have you ever noticed that the same politicians who are against sex education, birth control and safe and legal abortion are also against policies that would make it easier to raise a child — like paid family leave?” she asked.
A large portion of Clinton’s speech was dedicated to attacking the GOP’s presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, for his misogyny [ http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/03/donald_trump_has_one_core_philosophy_misogyny.html ] and for his promise to defund Planned Parenthood [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-planned-parenthood_us_56c9cff0e4b0928f5a6c3b38 ] and appoint Supreme Court justices who would support overturning Roe v. Wade [ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/05/11/trump-scotus-nominee-overturn-roe-v-wade/84223512/ ], the landmark decision that legalized abortion.
But what may ultimately be more significant is that Clinton showed how a high-level, mainstream Democrat can unapologetically explain why repealing the Hyde Amendment matters, even when Republicans will inevitably attack her for supporting “taxpayer-funded abortion [ https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/hillary-clinton-calls-for-taxpayer-funded-abortions-video ]” in the general election.
Copyright © 2016 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-planned-parenthood_us_575b08dae4b0ced23ca7fe7e [with comments] [the above YouTube of Clinton's speech at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaTpuVzGbwI (no comments yet), others at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_3HyTx0DqQ (no comments yet), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQnF9zbRoGI (with comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zogQLkLZEzM (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-5ZVHcm-2M (slightly clipped at the start; with comments)]
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Hillary Clinton picks up another big endorsement
In March 2015, the Rev. Jesse Jackson attends a civil rights anniversary event in Selma, Ala. On Saturday, Jackson endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in Chicago.
June 11, 2016
The Rev. Jesse Jackson announced his support for Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in a Saturday afternoon news conference with reporters in Chicago and called for "reconciliation" between her and her rival, Bernie Sanders.
Jackson, 74, recalled meeting Clinton in the Mississippi Delta and cited her work with the Children’s Defense Fund and, later, in the White House for a comprehensive health-care system.
“We trust her to work on health care, to fight for the poor,” said Jackson, with a couple of sheets of note paper in his hand. “We trust her to fight in the defense of children.”
Jackson said he had the "highest regard for Bernie," recalling Sanders's support for him during his own presidential campaign, and praising Sanders for his work on Wall Street reform and for a $15 hourly minimum wage.
[...]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/11/hillary-clinton-picks-up-another-big-endorsement/ [with comments]
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Bernie Sanders Refuses to Concede Nomination to Hillary Clinton
Senator Bernie Sanders in San Francisco this month. Mr. Sanders said he and Hillary Clinton plan to meet on Tuesday.
JUNE 12, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign.html
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President Obama Hosts a Reception for LGBT Pride Month
Published on Jun 9, 2016 by The White House [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYxRlFDqcWM4y7FfpiAN3KQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse , http://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse/videos ]
The White House
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Remarks by the President at LGBT Pride Reception
East Room
June 09, 2016
5:11 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! (Applause.) Hello, hello, hello! (Applause.) Good to see you. Hello! Well, welcome to the White House.
Let me first of all -- let me acknowledge some outstanding public servants who are here. We’ve got Secretary of the Army, Eric Fanning is in the house. (Applause.) Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg is here. (Applause.) We’ve got some amazing members of Congress -- no one who has done more on behalf of justice and equality than former Speaker and, perhaps soon to be Speaker again, Nancy Pelosi. (Applause.) We love Nancy.
So this is the eighth Pride reception that we will celebrate together. (Applause.) I want to begin by saying thank you to all the people that -- I’m looking out in the audience; I see some new friends but a lot of old friends, folks who have been with us through thick and thin. And I am grateful for all that you’ve done to work with us to accomplish some amazing transformations over these last seven and a half years. (Applause.)
So every year, we set aside this month to celebrate the ways that so many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans have helped to make our union just a little more perfect. We honor the countless nameless heroes who paved the way for progress: The activists who marched. The advocates who organized. The lawyers who argued cases. The families who stood by their loved ones, even when it was tough. Every brave American who came out and spoke out, especially when it was tough. Because of them, because of all of you, there’s a lot to be proud of today.
Today, we live in an America where “don’t ask, don’t tell” don’t exist no more. (Applause.) Because no one should have to hide who they love in order to serve the country that they love. We live in an America that protects all of us with a hate crimes law that bears the name of Matthew Shepard. (Applause.) We live in an America where all of us are treated more equally, because visiting hours in hospitals no longer depend on who you are -- (applause) -- and insurance companies can no longer turn somebody away simply because of who you love.
Thanks to heroes like Edith Windsor and Jim -- I always get Jim’s name -- (laughter) -- Jim knows I love him, but I never know where to put the emphasis -- Obergefell -- (applause) -- generations of couples who insisted that love is love, we now live in an America where all of our marriages and our families are recognized as equal under the law. And that’s an extraordinary thing. When you talk to the upcoming generation, our kids -- Malia’s, Sasha’s generation -- they instinctively know people are people and families are families. And discrimination, it’s so last century. (Laughter.) It’s so passé. It doesn’t make sense to them. (Applause.) So we live in an America where the laws are finally catching up to the hearts of kids and what they instinctively understand.
So some folks never imagined we’d come this far -- maybe even some in this room. Change can be slow. And I know that there have been times where at least some of the people in this room have yelled at me. (Laughter.) But together, we’ve proven that change is possible, that progress is possible.
It’s not inevitable, though. History doesn’t just travel forward; it can go backwards if we don’t work hard. So we can’t be complacent. (Applause.) We cannot be complacent. Securing the gains this country has made requires perseverance and vigilance. And it requires voting. Because we’ve got more work to do. (Applause.)
We still have more work to do when gay and bisexual men make up two-thirds of new HIV cases in our country. We have to work hard to make sure that jobs are not being denied, people aren’t being fired because of their sexual orientation. We still have work to do when transgender persons are attacked, even killed for just being who they are. We’ve got work to do when LGBT people around the world still face incredible isolation and poverty and persecution and violence, and even death. We have work to make sure that every single child, no matter who they are or where they come from or what they look like or how they live, feels welcomed and valued and loved.
So we’re going to have to keep on pushing. And that’s the work of all of us. The great and often unsung civil rights hero Bayard Rustin once said, “We need in every community a group of angelic troublemakers.” (Laughter and applause.)
And that’s what I see here tonight -– people who aren’t afraid to ruffle feathers in the name of justice and equality until we extend the full promise of America to every single one of us. And that’s always been our story -- not just in Selma or Seneca Falls, but in Compton’s Café and the Stonewall Inn. It’s the story of brave Americans who were willing to risk everything –- not just their own liberty or dignity, but also doing it on behalf of the dignity and liberty of generations to come. They understood a truth that lies at the heart of this nation: When all Americans are treated equal, we’re all more free.
And that’s what should give us hope. Despite our differences and our divisions, and the many complicated issues that we grapple with, real change is possible. Minds open. Hearts change. America shifts. And if the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that people who love their country can change it.
One of the most special moments of my presidency was that warm summer night last June when we lit up the White House out there. (Applause.) It was a powerful symbol here at home, where more Americans finally felt accepted and whole, and that their country recognized the love that they felt. It was a beacon for people around the world who are still fighting for those rights. It was a reminder that when the change we seek comes, and when we move a little bit further on our journey toward equality and justice, we still have a responsibility to reach back and help pull up others who are striving to do the same.
So enjoy tonight. Have some champagne -- some of you already have, I can tell. (Laughter.) Tomorrow, we get back to work. (Applause.) And by the way, we get back to work not just fighting on behalf of justice and equality for the LGBT community, but for everybody. (Applause.) Because one of the -- if you’ve felt the sting of discrimination, then you don't just fight to end discrimination for yourself, you've got to fight for the poor kid who needs opportunity. You need to fight for the working mom who can't pay the bills. You’ve got to fight for some young woman on the other side of the world who can't get an education. It can't just be about us. It’s about we, and what we can do together. (Applause.)
So I’m very proud to have fought alongside you. We’ve got more miles in the journey, and I’m so glad that we're going to be traveling that road together.
Thank you very much, everybody. (Applause.)
END
5:20 P.M. EDT
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/09/remarks-president-lgbt-pride-reception
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wceEYhDvPdk [with comments], [embedded at https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2016/06/09/president-obama-hosts-reception-lgbt-pride-month
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President Obama Delivers a Statement
Published on Jun 12, 2016 by The White House
The White House
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Remarks by the President on Mass Shooting in Orlando
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
June 12, 2016
1:59 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Today, as Americans, we grieve the brutal murder -- a horrific massacre -- of dozens of innocent people. We pray for their families, who are grasping for answers with broken hearts. We stand with the people of Orlando, who have endured a terrible attack on their city. Although it’s still early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate. And as Americans, we are united in grief, in outrage, and in resolve to defend our people.
I just finished a meeting with FBI Director Comey and my homeland security and national security advisors. The FBI is on the scene and leading the investigation, in partnership with local law enforcement. I’ve directed that the full resources of the federal government be made available for this investigation.
We are still learning all the facts. This is an open investigation. We’ve reached no definitive judgment on the precise motivations of the killer. The FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terrorism. And I’ve directed that we must spare no effort to determine what -- if any -- inspiration or association this killer may have had with terrorist groups. What is clear is that he was a person filled with hatred. Over the coming days, we’ll uncover why and how this happened, and we will go wherever the facts lead us.
This morning I spoke with my good friend, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, and I conveyed the condolences of the entire American people. This could have been any one of our communities. So I told Mayor Dyer that whatever help he and the people of Orlando need -- they are going to get it. As a country, we will be there for the people of Orlando today, tomorrow and for all the days to come.
We also express our profound gratitude to all the police and first responders who rushed into harm’s way. Their courage and professionalism saved lives, and kept the carnage from being even worse. It’s the kind of sacrifice that our law enforcement professionals make every single day for all of us, and we can never thank them enough.
This is an especially heartbreaking day for all our friends -- our fellow Americans -- who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The shooter targeted a nightclub where people came together to be with friends, to dance and to sing, and to live. The place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub -- it is a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds, and to advocate for their civil rights.
So this is a sobering reminder that attacks on any American -- regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation -- is an attack on all of us and on the fundamental values of equality and dignity that define us as a country. And no act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans.
Today marks the most deadly shooting in American history. The shooter was apparently armed with a handgun and a powerful assault rifle. This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well.
In the coming hours and days, we’ll learn about the victims of this tragedy. Their names. Their faces. Who they were. The joy that they brought to families and to friends, and the difference that they made in this world. Say a prayer for them and say a prayer for their families -- that God give them the strength to bear the unbearable. And that He give us all the strength to be there for them, and the strength and courage to change. We need to demonstrate that we are defined more -- as a country -- by the way they lived their lives than by the hate of the man who took them from us.
As we go together, we will draw inspiration from heroic and selfless acts -- friends who helped friends, took care of each other and saved lives. In the face of hate and violence, we will love one another. We will not give in to fear or turn against each other. Instead, we will stand united, as Americans, to protect our people, and defend our nation, and to take action against those who threaten us.
May God bless the Americans we lost this morning. May He comfort their families. May God continue to watch over this country that we love. Thank you.
END
2:04 P.M. EDT
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/12/remarks-president-mass-shooting-orlando
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntF-ieEOgkM [with (over 7,000) comments], [embedded at] https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2016/06/12/president-obama-delivers-statement
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President Obama Speaks on the Shooting in Orlando
Published on Jun 13, 2016 by The White House
The White House
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Remarks by the President After Briefing on the Attack in Orlando, Florida
Oval Office
June 13, 2016
11:13 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: I just had the opportunity to get the latest briefing from FBI Director Comey, as well as Deputy Attorney General Yates and the rest of my national security team about the tragedy that took place in Orlando. They’re going to be doing a more extensive briefing around noon -- just a little bit after noon over at FBI headquarters. So I will allow them to go into all the details, but I thought it was important for you to hear directly from me.
First of all, our hearts go out to the families of those who have been killed. Our prayers go to those who have been wounded. This is a devastating attack on all Americans. It is one that is particularly painful for the people of Orlando, but I think we all recognize that this could have happened anywhere in this country. And we feel enormous solidarity and grief on behalf of the families that have been affected.
The fact that it took place at a club frequented by the LGBT community I think is also relevant. We’re still looking at all the motivations of the killer. But it’s a reminder that regardless of race, religion, faith or sexual orientation, we’re all Americans, and we need to be looking after each other and protecting each other at all times in the face of this kind of terrible act.
With respect to the killer, there’s been a lot of reporting that’s been done. It’s important to emphasize that we’re still at the preliminary stages of the investigation, and there’s a lot more that we have to learn. The one thing that we can say is that this is being treated as a terrorist investigation. It appears that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the Internet. All those materials are currently being searched, exploited so we will have a better sense of the pathway that the killer took in making the decision to launch this attack.
As Director Comey I think will indicate, at this stage we see no clear evidence that he was directed externally. It does appear that, at the last minute, he announced allegiance to ISIL, but there is no evidence so far that he was in fact directed by ISIL. And there also at this stage is no direct evidence that he was part of a larger plot. In that sense, it appears to be similar to what we saw in San Bernardino, but we don’t yet know. And this is part of what is going to be important in terms of the investigation.
As far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time. It also appears that he was able to obtain these weapons legally because he did not have a criminal record that, in some ways, would prohibit him from purchasing these weapons. It appears that one of those weapons he was able to just carry out of the store -- an assault rifle, a handgun -- a Glock -- which had a lot of clips in it. He was apparently required to wait for three days under Florida law. But it does indicate the degree to which it was not difficult for him to obtain these kinds of weapons.
Director Comey will discuss the fact that there had been some investigation of him in the past that was triggered, but as Director Comey I think will indicate, the FBI followed the procedures that they were supposed to and did a proper job.
At the end of the day, this is something that we are going to have to grapple with -- making sure that even as we go after ISIL and other extremist organizations overseas, even as we hit their leadership, even as we go after their infrastructure, even as we take key personnel off the field, even as we disrupt external plots -- that one of the biggest challenges we are going to have is this kind of propaganda and perversions of Islam that you see generated on the Internet, and the capacity for that to seep into the minds of troubled individuals or weak individuals, and seeing them motivated then to take actions against people here in the United States and elsewhere in the world that are tragic. And so countering this extremist ideology is increasingly going to be just as important as making sure that we are disrupting more extensive plots engineered from the outside.
We are also going to have to have to make sure that we think about the risks we are willing to take by being so lax in how we make very powerful firearms available to people in this country. And this is something that obviously I’ve talked about for a very long time.
My concern is that we start getting into a debate, as has happened in the past, which is an either/or debate. And the suggestion is either we think about something as terrorism and we ignore the problems with easy access to firearms, or it’s all about firearms and we ignore the role -- the very real role that that organizations like ISIL have in generating extremist views inside this country. And it’s not an either/or. It’s a both/and.
We have to go after these terrorist organizations and hit them hard. We have to counter extremism. But we also have to make sure that it is not easy for somebody who decides they want to harm people in this country to be able to obtain weapons to get at them.
And my hope is, is that over the next days and weeks that we are being sober about how we approach this problem, that we let the facts get determined by our investigators, but we also do some reflecting in terms of how we can best tackle what is going to be a very challenging problem not just here in this country, but around the world.
Again, my final point is just to extend our deepest sympathies to the families of those who were affected and to send our prayers to those who are surviving and are in hospitals right now, and their family members hoping that they get better very soon.
But in the meantime, you can anticipate sometime around noon that Director Comey and Deputy Attorney General Yates will provide you with a more full briefing about this. Okay?
Q Mr. President, is there anything more to the LBGT angle to this?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think we don't yet know the motivations. But here’s what we do know -- is organizations like ISIL or organizations like al Qaeda, or those who have perverted Islam and created these radical, nihilistic, vicious organizations, one of the groups that they target are gays and lesbians because they believe that they do not abide by their attitudes towards sexuality.
Now, we also know these are organizations that think it’s fine to take captive women and enslave them and rape them. So there clearly are connections between the attitudes in an organization like this and their attitudes towards tolerance and pluralism and a belief that all people are created equally regardless of sexual orientation. That is something threatening to them. Women being empowered is threatening to them.
So, yes, I’m sure we will find that there are connections -- regardless of the particular motivations of this killer -- there are connections between this vicious, bankrupt ideology and general attitudes towards gays and lesbians. And unfortunately, that’s something that the LGBT community is subject to not just by ISIL but by a lot of groups that purport to speak on behalf of God around the world.
Q What are your thoughts about the fact that after all of these incidents over these years, that there has not been any move to reform gun control in this country?
THE PRESIDENT: April, I think you know what I think about it. The fact that we make it this challenging for law enforcement, for example, even to get alerted that somebody who they are watching has purchased a gun -- and if they do get alerted, sometimes it’s hard for them to stop them from getting a gun -- is crazy. It’s a problem. And we have to, I think, do some soul-searching.
But again, the danger here is, is that then it ends up being the usual political debate. And the NRA and the gun control folks say that, oh, Obama doesn't want to talk about terrorism. And if you talk about terrorism, then people say why aren’t you looking at issues of gun control.
The point is, is that if we have self-radicalized individuals in this country, then they are going to be very difficult oftentimes to find ahead of time. And how easy it is for them to obtain weapons is, in some cases, going to make a difference as to whether they're able to carry out attacks like this or not. And we make it very easy for individuals who are troubled or disturbed or want to engage in violent acts to get very powerful weapons very quickly. And that's a problem.
It’s a problem regardless of their motivations. It’s a problem for a young man who can walk into a church in South Carolina and murder nine people who offered to pray with him. It’s a problem when an angry young man on a college campus decides to shoot people because he feels disrespected. It’s certainly a problem when we have organizations like ISIL or al Qaeda who are actively trying to promote violence and are doing so very effectively over the Internet, because we know that at some point there are going to be, out of 300 million people, there are going to be some individuals who find for whatever reason that kind of horrible propaganda enticing. And if that happens, and that person can get a weapon, that's a problem.
END
11:27 A.M. EDT
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/13/remarks-president-after-briefing-attack-orlando-florida
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPwsqFbtWvk [with comments], [embedded at] https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2016/06/13/president-obama-speaks-shooting-orlando
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FULL: Donald Trump Orlando Terrorism Speech 6/13/16
Published on Jun 13, 2016 by FOX 10 Phoenix [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJg9wBPyKMNA5sRDnvzmkdg , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJg9wBPyKMNA5sRDnvzmkdg/videos ]
Donald Trump outlines National Security concerns LIVE at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH 2:30 EST.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV40c4bPCrA [with comments] [also at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFIVXkJWzfA (with {over 5,000} comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_XOEVRcoSQ (with {over 4,000} comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puMUmdnRRCI (with comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogWTb4K7daQ (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpSJahRZ1fE (no comments yet)] [and see also in particular (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123283472 and preceding and following,
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123333782 and preceding and following]
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Former GOP senator endorses Clinton after Orlando shooting
By Tim Devaney
June 13, 2016, 05:43 pm
A former Republican senator is endorsing Hillary Clinton [ http://thehill.com/people/hillary-clinton ] for president after the mass shooting in Orlando, citing her support for gun control.
Former Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) called for universal background checks on all gun sales and an assault weapons ban Monday in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
“I can’t believe I’m endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, but I am,” said Pressler, who spoke with The Hill on Monday after endorsing Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in a statement issued over the weekend.
“This morning, I woke up and told my wife, ‘Did I really do that?’ ” he said. "But I did."
“If someone had told me 10 years ago I would do this, I wouldn’t have believed them."
Pressler, a moderate Republican who served three terms in the Senate before losing his seat to Democrat Tim Johnson [ http://thehill.com/people/tim-johnson ] in 1997, said he believes voting for Clinton is the “responsible thing to do.”
He said he feels disenfranchised by Donald Trump [ http://thehill.com/people/donald-trump ], the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and modern-day congressional Republicans who have opposed efforts to expand background checks for gun sales.
“We need to go the route of more gun control as a result of Orlando and all the other shootings that have occurred,” Pressler said. “But it’s almost as though Republicans are saying gun control shouldn’t be part of the conversation at all."
But gun control isn’t the only reason why Pressler is ready to join “Republicans for Clinton” — he’s also concerned about Trump’s rhetoric on Muslims.
“This election is starting to sound like the German elections in [the late 1920s],” Pressler said. “This is a very dangerous national conversation we’re slipping into.”
Pressler, a Mormon Sunday school teacher, said he understands all too well the dangers of singling out a particular religious group.
In 1838, Missouri Gov. Lilburn Boggs ordered Mormons to be killed, which forced many to leave the state before eventually resettling in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Trump makes “Mormons very nervous,” Pressler said.
"Mormons are the only religious group besides the Jews who have been ordered by the government to be extinguished, killed,” he said.
“The worst thing is for Republicans to be silent,” Pressler added. “A lot of Republicans are just saying, ‘I’ll sit it out, I won’t vote.’ Or, ‘I’ll vote for a third-party candidate.’ But if they don’t vote, they are giving more power to dark forces.”
©2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/283330-former-gop-senator-endorses-clinton-after-orlando-shooting [with comments]
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President Obama Delivers a Statement to the Press
Published on Jun 14, 2016 by The White House
Washington, DC
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Remarks by the President After Counter-ISIL Meeting
Treasury Department
Washington, D.C.
June 14, 2016
12:18 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: I just met with my National Security Council as part of our regular effort to review and intensify our campaign to destroy the terrorist group ISIL. Our meeting was planned before the terrible attack in Orlando. But obviously that tragedy -- the awful loss of life -- shaped much of our work today. In all of our efforts, foremost in our minds is the loss and the grief of the people of Orlando -- those who died, those who are still recovering, the families who have seen their loved ones harmed, the friends of ours who are lesbian and gay and bisexual and transgender who were targeted. I want to remind them that they are not alone. The American people, and our allies and friends all over the world, stand with you and are thinking about you, and are praying for you.
As Director Comey has said, we currently do not have any information to indicate that a foreign terrorist group directed the attack in Orlando. It is increasingly clear, however, that the killer took in extremist information and propaganda over the Internet. He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized. As we know all too well, terrorist groups like ISIL have called on people around the world and here in the United States to attack innocent civilians. Their propaganda, their videos, their postings are pervasive and more easily accessible than we want. This individual appears to have absorbed some of that. And during his killing spree, the shooter in Orlando pledged allegiance to ISIL.
As I’ve said before, these lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent. But across our government, at every level -- federal, state and local, military and civilian -- we are doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of attacks. We work to succeed a hundred percent of the time. An attacker, as we saw in Orlando, only has to succeed once. Our extraordinary personnel -- our intelligence, our military, our homeland security, our law enforcement -- have prevented many attacks and saved many lives. And we can never thank them enough. But we are all sobered by the fact that, despite the extraordinary hard work, something like Orlando can occur.
In our meeting today, Director Comey updated us on the investigation in Orlando. Secretary Johnson reviewed the measures we continue to take on behalf of our homeland security. Secretary Carter and Chairman Dunford reviewed the military campaign against ISIL. And I want to thank Secretary Lew and his team here at Treasury for hosting us and for their tireless efforts to cut off the money that ISIL relies on to fund its terror network.
At the outset, I want to reiterate our objective in this fight. Our mission is to destroy ISIL. Since I last updated the American people on our campaign two months ago, we’ve seen that this continues to be a difficult fight -- but we are making significant progress. Over the past two months, I’ve authorized a series of steps to ratchet up our fight against ISIL: additional U.S. personnel, including Special Forces, in Syria to assist local forces battling ISIL there; additional advisors to work more closely with Iraqi security forces, and additional assets, including attack helicopters; and additional support for local forces in northern Iraq. Our aircraft continue to launch from the USS Harry Truman, now in the Mediterranean. Our B-52 bombers are hitting ISIL with precision strikes. Targets are being identified and hit even more quickly -- so far, 13,000 airstrikes. This campaign at this stage is firing on all cylinders.
And as a result, ISIL is under more pressure than ever before. ISIL continues to lose key leaders. This includes Salman Abd Shahib, a senior military leader in Mosul; Abu Sa’ad al-Sudani, who plotted external attacks; Shakir Wahayb, ISIL’s military leader in Iraq’s Anbar province; and Maher al-Bilawi, the top ISIL commander in Fallujah. So far, we’ve taken out more than 120 top ISIL leaders and commanders. And our message is clear: If you target America and our allies, you will not be safe. You will never be safe.
ISIL continues to lose ground in Iraq. In the past two months, local forces in Iraq, with coalition support, have liberated the western town of Rutbah and have also pushed up the Euphrates River Valley, liberating the strategic town of Hit and breaking the ISIL siege of Haditha. Iraqi forces have surrounded Fallujah and begun to move into the city. Meanwhile, in the north, Iraqi forces continue to push up the Tigris River Valley, making gains around Makhmour, and now preparing to tighten the noose around ISIL in Mosul. All told, ISIL has now lost nearly half of the populated territory that it once controlled in Iraq -- and it will lose more.
ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well. Assisted by our Special Operations Forces, a coalition of local forces is now pressuring the key town of Manbij, which means the noose is tightening around ISIL in Raqqa as well. In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is on defense. And it’s now been a full year since ISIL has been able to mount a major successful offensive operation in either Syria or Iraq.
As ISIL continues to lose territory, it also continues to lose the money that is its lifeblood. As a result of our strikes against its oil infrastructure and supply lines, we believe that we’ve cut ISIL’s revenue from oil by millions of dollars per month. In destroying the storage sites where they keep their cash, we’ve deprived ISIL of many millions more.
Thanks to the great work of Secretary Lew and many others here today -- and working with nations and financial institutions around the world -- ISIL is now effectively cut off from the international financial system. Cutting off ISIL’s money may not be as dramatic as military strikes, but it is critically important. And we’re seeing the results. ISIL’s cash reserves are down. It has had to cut salaries for its fighters. It’s resorting to more extortion of those trapped in its grip. And by ISIL’s own admission, some of its own leaders have been caught stealing cash and gold. Once again, ISIL’s true nature has been revealed: These are not religious warriors, they are thugs and they are thieves.
In continuing to push on this front, I want to mention that it is critical for our friends in the Senate to confirm Adam Szubin, my nominee for Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Adam has served in Democratic and Republican administrations. Everyone agrees he’s eminently qualified. He has been working on these kinds of issues for years. It’s now been more than a year since I nominated him -- more than 420 days -- and he still has not been given a full vote. There is no good reason for it. It is inexcusable. So it’s time for the Senate to do its job, put our national security first, and have a vote on Adam Szubin that can lead our financial fight against ISIL and help keep our country safe.
ISIL’s ranks are shrinking as well. Their morale is sinking. As one defender -- as one defector said, ISIL “is not bringing Islam to the world, and people need to know that.” Thanks to international efforts, the flow of foreign fighters -- including from America to Syria and Iraq -- has plummeted. In fact, our intelligence community now assesses that the ranks of ISIL fighters has been reduced to the lowest levels in more than two and half years.
Even as we continue to destroy ISIL militarily, we’re addressing the larger forces that have allowed these terrorists to gain traction in parts of the world. With regard to Iraq, this means helping Iraqis stabilize liberated communities and promote inclusive governance so ISIL cannot return.
With regard to Syria, it means our continued support for the fragile cessation of hostilities there. The cessation of hostilities has not stopped all or even most of the hardship on the Syrian people, the hardship on civilians. And the Assad regime has been the principal culprit in violating the cessation of hostilities. ISIL and al Nusra, which is al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, also continue to terrorize Syrians. But as fragile and incomplete as the cessation is, it has saved lives and it has allowed the delivery of some lifesaving aid to Syrians who are in desperate need. And as difficult as it is, we will continue to push for a political process that can end the civil war and result in a transition away from Assad.
Beyond Syria and Libya -- beyond Syria and Iraq, ISIL is also losing ground in Libya. Forces of the Libyan unity government are going after ISIL in their stronghold in Sirte. And we’ll continue to assist the new Libyan government as it works to secure its country.
Lastly, here at home, if we really want to help law enforcement protect Americans from homegrown extremists, the kind of tragedies that occurred at San Bernardino and that now have occurred in Orlando, there is a meaningful way to do that. We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents. It is absolutely true we cannot prevent every tragedy. But we know that, consistent with the Second Amendment, there are common-sense steps that could reduce gun violence and could reduce the lethality of somebody who intends to do other people harm. We should give ATF the resources they need to enforce the gun laws that we already have. People with possible ties to terrorism who aren't allowed on a plane shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun.
Enough talking about being tough on terrorism. Actually be tough on terrorism, and stop making it easy as possible for terrorists to buy assault weapons. Reinstate the assault weapons ban. Make it harder for terrorists to use these weapons to kill us. Otherwise, despite extraordinary efforts across our government by local law enforcement, by our intelligence agencies, by our military, despite all the sacrifices that folks make, these kinds of events are going to keep on happening. And the weapons are only going to get more powerful.
And let me make a final point. For a while now, the main contribution of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have made in the fight against ISIL is to criticize this administration and me for not using the phrase “radical Islam.” That’s the key, they tell us -- we can’t beat ISIL unless we call them “radical Islamists.” What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction. Since before I was President, I’ve been clear about how extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism. As President, I have repeatedly called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the world’s great religions.
There has not been a moment in my seven and a half years as President where we have not been able to pursue a strategy because we didn’t use the label "radical Islam." Not once has an advisor of mine said, man, if we really use that phrase, we're going to turn this whole thing around. Not once. So if someone seriously thinks that we don’t know who we're fighting, if there's anyone out there who thinks we're confused about who our enemies are, that would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who we've taken off the battlefield.
If the implication is that those of us up here and the thousands of people around the country and around the world who are working to defeat ISIL aren't taking the fight seriously, that would come as a surprise to those who have spent these last seven and a half years dismantling al Qaeda in the FATA, for example -- including the men and women in uniform who put their lives at risk and the Special Forces that I ordered to get bin Laden and are now on the ground in Iraq and in Syria. They know full well who the enemy is. So do the intelligence and law enforcement officers who spend countless hours disrupting plots and protecting all Americans, including politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows. They know who the nature of the enemy is.
So there’s no magic to the phrase “radical Islam.” It’s a political talking point; it's not a strategy. And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism. Groups like ISIL and al Qaeda want to make this war a war between Islam and America, or between Islam and the West. They want to claim that they are the true leaders of over a billion Muslims around the world who reject their crazy notions. They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for those billion-plus people; that they speak for Islam. That’s their propaganda. That's how they recruit. And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion -- then we’re doing the terrorists' work for them.
Now, up until this point, this argument about labels has mostly just been partisan rhetoric. And, sadly, we've all become accustomed to that kind of partisanship, even when it involves the fight against these extremist groups. And that kind of yapping has not prevented folks across government from doing their jobs, from sacrificing and working really hard to protect the American people.
But we are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind of thinking can be. We're starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're fighting, where this can lead us. We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States to bar all Muslims from emigrating to America. We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests that entire religious communities are complicit in violence. Where does this stop? The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer -- they were all U.S. citizens.
Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? We’ve heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want. It doesn't reflect our democratic ideals. It won’t make us more safe; it will make us less safe -- fueling ISIL’s notion that the West hates Muslims, making young Muslims in this country and around the world feel like no matter what they do, they're going to be under suspicion and under attack. It makes Muslim Americans feel like they're government is betraying them. It betrays the very values America stands for.
We've gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of fear -- and we came to regret it. We've seen our government mistreat our fellow citizens. And it has been a shameful part of our history.
This is a country founded on basic freedoms, including freedom of religion. We don't have religious tests here. Our Founders, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights are clear about that. And if we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect -- the pluralism and the openness, our rule of law, our civil liberties -- the very things that make this country great; the very things that make us exceptional. And then the terrorists would have won. And we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen.
Two weeks ago, I was at the commencement ceremony at the Air Force Academy [video and transcript included at/see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123156914 and preceding and following (two posts back)]. And it could not have been more inspiring to see these young people stepping up, dedicated to serve and protect this country. And part of what was inspiring was the incredible diversity of these cadets. We saw cadets, who are straight, applauding classmates who were openly gay. We saw cadets, born here in America, applauding classmates who are immigrants and love this country so much they decided they wanted to be part of our armed forces. We saw cadets and families of all religions applaud cadets who are proud, patriotic Muslim Americans serving their country in uniform, ready to lay their lives on the line to protect you and to protect me. We saw male cadets applauding for female classmates, who can now serve in combat positions. That’s the American military. That’s America -- one team, one nation. Those are the values that ISIL is trying to destroy, and we shouldn’t help them do it.
Our diversity and our respect for one another, our drawing on the talents of everybody in this country, our making sure that we are treating everybody fairly -- that we’re not judging people on the basis of what faith they are or what race they are, or what ethnicity they are, or what their sexual orientation is -- that’s what makes this country great. That’s the spirit we see in Orlando. That’s the unity and resolve that will allow us to defeat ISIL. That’s what will preserve our values and our ideals that define us as Americans. That’s how we’re going to defend this nation, and that’s how we’re going to defend our way of life.
Thank you very much.
END
12:43 P.M. EDT
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/14/remarks-president-after-counter-isil-meeting
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B54jxR9IPKc [with comments], [embedded at] https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2016/06/14/president-obama-delivers-statement-press
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Full Speech Hillary Clinton Rally in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania June 14 2016
Published on Jun 18, 2016 by Hillary Clinton Speeches [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa3tUtZutcTv9TZehWDqBCA / , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa3tUtZutcTv9TZehWDqBCA/videos ]
Full Speech: Hillary Clinton Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Rally (IBEW Circuit Center), June 14, 2016.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSMyrFEepmA [with comment] [also at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SgmWiUcrz8 (no comments yet), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4OPqJ24GQc (text adapted from; with comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp0kAT8TG3Y (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzabUZdTNIE (no comments yet)]
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President Obama Delivers a Statement in Orlando
Published on Jun 16, 2016 by The White House
Orlando, Florida
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Remarks by the President in a Statement to the Press
Dr. P. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Orlando, Florida
June 16, 2016
3:40 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Four days ago, this community was shaken by an evil and hateful act. Today, we are reminded of what is good. That there is compassion, empathy and decency, and most of all, there is love. That’s the Orlando that we’ve seen in recent days. And that is the America that we have seen.
This afternoon, the Vice President and I had the opportunity to meet with many of the families here. As you might imagine, their grief is beyond description. Through their pain and through their tears, they told us about the joy that their loved ones had brought to their lives. They talked about their sons or their daughters -- so many young people, in their 20s and 30s; so many students who were focused on the future. One young woman was just 18 years old. Another, said her father, was a happy girl with so many dreams.
There were siblings there talking about their brothers and their sisters and how they were role models that they looked up to. There were husbands and wives who had taken a solemn vow; fathers and mothers who gave their full hearts to their children. These families could be our families. In fact, they are our family -- they’re part of the American family. Today, the Vice President and I told them, on behalf of the American people, that our hearts are broken, too, but we stand with you and that we are here for you, and that we are remembering those who you loved so deeply.
As a nation, we’ve also been inspired by the courage of those who risked their lives and cared for others. Partners whose last moments were spent shielding each other. The mother who gave her life to save her son. The former Marine whose quick thinking saved dozens of lives.
Joe and I had the chance to thank Mayor Dyer, Chief Mina, Sheriff Demings, all who responded in heroic ways; the outstanding police and first responders who were able to, through their professionalism and quick response, rescue so many people. We also owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to all the doctors, all the nurses who have worked day and night to treat the injured, save lives and prevent even more anguish. As one of the doctors here said, “after the worst of humanity reared its ugly head…the best of humanity came roaring back.” Let me get that quote more precisely -- “after the worst of humanity reared its evil head…the best of humanity came roaring back.”
Now, if we’re honest with ourselves, if, in fact, we want to show the best of our humanity, then we're all going to have to work together at every level of government, across political lines, to do more to stop killers who want to terrorize us. We will continue to be relentless against terrorist groups like ISIL and al Qaeda. We are going to destroy them. We are going to disrupt their networks, and their financing, and the flow of fighters in and out of war theaters. We're going to disrupt their propaganda that poisons so many minds around the world.
We're going to do all that. Our resolve is clear. But given the fact that the last two terrorist attacks on our soil -- Orlando and San Bernardino -- were homegrown, carried out it appears not by external plotters, not by vast networks or sophisticated cells, but by deranged individuals warped by the hateful propaganda that they had seen over the Internet, then we’re going to have to do more to prevent these kinds of events from occurring. It's going to take more than just our military. It's going to require more than just our intelligence teams. As good as they are, as dedicated as they are, as focused as they are, if you have lone wolf attacks like this, hatched in the minds of a disturbed person, then we're going to have to take different kinds of steps in order to prevent something like this from happening.
Those who were killed and injured here were gunned down by a single killer with a powerful assault weapon. The motives of this killer may have been different than the mass shooters in Aurora or Newtown, but the instruments of death were so similar. And now, another 49 innocent people are dead. Another 53 are injured. Some are still fighting for their lives. Some will have wounds that will last a lifetime. We can't anticipate or catch every single deranged person that may wish to do harm to his neighbors, or his friends, or his coworkers, or strangers. But we can do something about the amount of damage that they do. Unfortunately, our politics have conspired to make it as easy as possible for a terrorist or just a disturbed individual like those in Aurora and Newtown to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons -- and they can do so legally.
Today, once again, as has been true too many times before, I held and hugged grieving family members and parents, and they asked, why does this keep happening? And they pleaded that we do more to stop the carnage. They don’t care about the politics. Neither do I. Neither does Joe. And neither should any parent out there who’s thinking about their kids being not in the wrong place, but in places where kids are supposed to be.
This debate needs to change. It’s outgrown the old political stalemates. The notion that the answer to this tragedy would be to make sure that more people in a nightclub are similarly armed to the killer defies common sense. Those who defend the easy accessibility of assault weapons should meet these families and explain why that makes sense. They should meet with the Newtown families -- some of whom Joe saw yesterday -- whose children would now be finishing fifth grade -- on why it is that we think our liberty requires these repeated tragedies. That's not the meaning of liberty.
I’m pleased to hear that the Senate will hold votes on preventing individuals with possible terrorist ties from buying guns, including assault weapons. I truly hope that senators rise to the moment and do the right thing. I hope that senators who voted no on background checks after Newtown have a change of heart. And then I hope the House does the right thing, and helps end the plague of violence that these weapons of war inflict on so many young lives.
I've said this before -- we will not be able to stop every tragedy. We can't wipe away hatred and evil from every heart in this world. But we can stop some tragedies. We can save some lives. We can reduce the impact of a terrorist attack if we're smart. And if we don't act, we will keep seeing more massacres like this -- because we’ll be choosing to allow them to happen. We will have said, we don't care enough to do something about it.
Here in Orlando, we are reminded not only of our obligations as a country to be resolute against terrorists, we are reminded not only of the need for us to implement smarter policies to prevent mass shootings, we're also reminded of what unites us as Americans, and that what unites us is far stronger than the hate and the terror of those who target us.
For so many people here who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, the Pulse Nightclub has always been a safe haven, a place to sing and dance, and most importantly, to be who you truly are -- including for so many people whose families are originally from Puerto Rico. Sunday morning, that sanctuary was violated in the worst way imaginable. So whatever the motivations of the killer, whatever influences led him down the path of violence and terror, whatever propaganda he was consuming from ISIL and al Qaeda, this was an act of terrorism but it was also an act of hate. This was an attack on the LGBT community. Americans were targeted because we’re a country that has learned to welcome everyone, no matter who you are or who you love. And hatred towards people because of sexual orientation, regardless of where it comes from, is a betrayal of what’s best in us.
Joe and I were talking on the way over here -- you can't make up the world into “us” and “them,” and denigrate and express hatred towards groups because of the color of their skin, or their faith, or their sexual orientation, and not feed something very dangerous in this world.
So if there was ever a moment for all of us to reflect and reaffirm our most basic beliefs that everybody counts and everybody has dignity, now is the time. It's a good time for all of us to reflect on how we treat each other, and to insist on respect and equality for every human being.
We have to end discrimination and violence against our brothers and sisters who are in the LGBT community -- here at home and around the world, especially in countries where they are routinely persecuted. We have to challenge the oppression of women, wherever it occurs -- here or overseas. There’s only “us” -- Americans.
Here in Orlando, in the men and women taken from us, those who loved them, we see some of the true character of this country -- the best of humanity coming roaring back; the love and the compassion and the fierce resolve that will carry us through not just through this atrocity, but through whatever difficult times may confront us.
It’s our pluralism and our respect for each other -- including a young man who said to a friend, he was “super proud” to be Latino. It’s our love of country -- the patriotism of an Army reservist who was known as “an amazing officer.” It’s our unity -- the outpouring of love that so many across our country have shown to our fellow Americans who are LGBT, a display of solidarity that might have been unimaginable even a few years ago.
Out of this darkest of moments, that gives us hope -- seeing people reflect, seeing people’s best instincts come out, maybe in some cases, minds and hearts change. It is our strength and our resilience -- the same determination of a man who died here who traveled the world, mindful of the risks as a gay man, but who spoke for us all when he said, “we cannot be afraid…we are not going to be afraid.”
May we all find that same strength in our own lives. May we all find that same wisdom in how we treat one another. May God bless all who we lost here in Orlando. May He comfort their families. May He heal the wounded. May He bring some solace to those whose hearts have been broken. May He give us resolve to do what’s necessary to reduce the hatred of this world, curb the violence. And may He watch over this country that we call home.
Thank you very much, everybody.
END
3:58 P.M. EDT
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/16/remarks-president-statement-press
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZByaHrVWro [with comments], [embedded at] https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2016/06/16/president-obama-delivers-statement-orlando
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Almost Every GOP Senator Just Voted to Keep Letting Terror Suspects Buy Guns
Gun enthusiasts view Sig Sauer rifles at the NRA's annual convention in May 2016.
Once again, gun safety measures fail to move forward in Congress after a massacre.
Jun. 20, 2016
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/gun-safety-measures-defeated-senate-republicans-orlando [with comments]
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Democratic Party Reform Press Conference | Bernie Sanders
Published on Jun 14, 2016 by Bernie 2016 [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH1dpzjCEiGAt8CXkryhkZg , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH1dpzjCEiGAt8CXkryhkZg/videos ]
A few things are clear: 1) We have to replace the current DNC leadership. We need someone who vigorously supports bringing people into the political process. 2) We must get rid of superdelegates. The fact that we had 400 superdelegates pledged eight months before the first ballot was cast is absurd. and 3) The idea that in the State of New York 3 million people could not participate in helping select the Democratic nominee is incomprehensible. We need real reform within the Democratic Party. And that means open primaries.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7gzE-ceQyo [with comments)] [also included in longer excerpts from the press conference at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQzh0cj5tOI (no comments yet), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuuWeh9L7OM (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2-7g8VNK68 (with comments)]
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Sanders collides with black lawmakers
Bernie Sanders and his supporters have railed against the unelected superdelegates, who have the freedom to back any candidate they choose.
Getty
The Congressional Black Caucus 'vehemently' opposes Sanders' call to abolish superdelegates.
By Daniel Strauss
06/19/16 04:17 PM EDT
Bernie Sanders is on a crash course with the Congressional Black Caucus.
In a letter sent to both the Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaigns, the CBC is expressing its resolute opposition to two key reforms demanded by Sanders in the run-up to the Democratic convention: abolishing the party’s superdelegate system and opening Democratic primaries up to independents and Republicans.
"The Democratic Members of the Congressional Black Caucus recently voted unanimously to oppose any suggestion or idea to eliminate the category of Unpledged Delegate to the Democratic National Convention (aka Super Delegates) and the creation of uniform open primaries in all states," says the letter [ http://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000155-6a23-dbd7-a5d5-fe6f76ef0000 ], which was obtained by POLITICO. "The Democratic Party benefits from the current system of unpledged delegates to the National Convention by virtue of rules that allow members of the House and Senate to be seated as a delegate without the burdensome necessity of competing against constituents for the honor of representing the state during the nominating process."
The letter — which was also sent to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz — follows a Wednesday CBC meeting where members discussed for over an hour the impact of eliminating superdelegates on the African-American community, according to CBC Chairman Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.).
"We passed a resolution in our caucus that we would vehemently oppose any change in the superdelegate system because members of the CBC might want to participate in the Democratic convention as delegates but if we would have to run for the delegate slot at the county level or state level or district level, we would be running against our constituents and we're not going to do that,” said Butterfield. “But we want to participate as delegates and that's why this superdelegates system was created in the beginning, so members would not have to run against their own constituents."
The opposition to open primaries is based on the fear that allowing independent or Republican voters to participate in Democratic primaries would dilute minority voting strength in many places.
The superdelegate system has been a flashpoint throughout the campaign. Sanders and his supporters have railed against the unelected superdelegates, who have the freedom to back any candidate they choose. This year, the vast majority of them have endorsed Clinton — many of them before the first votes of the primary season were even cast. In states where Sanders has won the popular vote but not the support of the state’s superdelegates, it’s led to deep resentment at the grassroots level and fueled claims that the nominating process was rigged.
In Wyoming, for example, despite defeating Clinton in the state's April 9 Democratic caucuses by 56 percent to 44 percent, Sanders actually suffered a net delegate loss because the state’s four superdelegates all backed Clinton.
According to the Associated Press, Clinton currently has the support of 587 superdelegates to 48 for Sanders.
Several state Democratic conventions in recent months considered resolutions abolishing the superdelegate system, or changing it so that superdelegates must align themselves in proportion to the outcome.
The pressure to eliminate or modify the superdelegate allocation process has led some senior party leaders to express support for reform.
"I'm very open to a reform that says the superdelegates have to vote with the preferences of their state," said former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a former DNC chairman. "That's not a problem —in the same proportion."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the party’s most influential liberals and a Clinton supporter, criticized superdelegates during the Massachusetts Democratic state convention.
"I’m a superdelegate, and I don’t believe in superdelegates," Warren told reporters at the June 5 convention.
Many African-American lawmakers, however, are loathe to give up any influence and hard-won gains in the selection of the Democratic nominee. In a letter accompanying the CBC letter to Democratic colleagues, Rep. James Clyburn — a member of House leadership and co-chairman of a 2009 commission that reviewed the Democratic nominating process — strongly pushed back against criticism of the superdelegate process.
"Let me be clear, our delegate selection process is not rigged," Clyburn wrote in the separate letter [ http://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000155-69c5-d0c4-a1fd-fbc710260001 ], also obtained by POLITICO. "It is transparent to the public and open for participation for all who wish to declare themselves."
The Sanders campaign declined to comment on the letters.
Retaining some kind of superdelegate system has been a high priority for CBC members, said Democratic strategist Doug Thornell, formerly the group’s communications director.
"Sanders did a lot of things right in this campaign, he did a lot better than expected. At the same time he seemed to have a lack of understanding or lack of relationships with black leaders that you saw ultimately hurt him in South Carolina and other states with big black electorates," Thornell said. "And this is something that the CBC is going to be very passionate and push back against. This is a way that African-American officials can represent their district and have a say in the process. They're not going to go along with this at all."
Multiple CBC members conceded that the superdelegate system has its flaws, but also argued it's not worth scrapping. "I've been listening to both sides, all sides of the debate and I think both sides have made persuasive arguments," said one CBC member, who asked to not be named.
"The superdelegate system is not perfect but it has worked for us quite well over the years and frankly the superdelegates have never needed to cast any superdelegate votes to alter what the voters did during the primary elections," said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. "Never. That's not the case this year either. The concern many of us have, of course, is that our numbers would shrink in terms of having influence over and involvement with what happens at the convention."
Cleaver added that the CBC would not be swayed on the superdelegate issue.
"The black caucus is immovable on this subject because our number one concern is going to be an always be the highest level of minority participation as possible at the convention," Cleaver said. "You're going to see the same thing with the Hispanic Congressional Caucus. Mr. Sanders, if he had met with either or what's called the tri-caucus, he would have found out there is no flexibility."
© 2016 POLITICO LLC
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/bernie-sanders-black-caucus-superdelegates-224502 [with comments]
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Pants On Fire for viral rumor Bernie Sanders won California
Says Bernie Sanders "wins California landslide, But 2/3 of his votes aren’t counted."
— Bloggers on Tuesday, June 7th, 2016 in a headline in the Justice Gazette [ http://justicegazette.org/bernie-defrauded-in-ca.html (at/see {linked in} e.g. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123209833 and following, http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123258090 and following)]
PANTS ON FIRE – The statement is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim.
June 10th, 2016
http://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2016/jun/10/blog-posting/pants-fire-viral-rumor-bernie-sanders-won-californ/
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California Democratic Primary
June 7, 2016
All precincts reporting
Last updated: 12:16 p.m. on June 8, 2016
Clinton 55.8%, 1,940,580 votes
Sanders 43.2%, 1,502,043 votes
Clinton lead 438,537 votes
[(drawn from) as still currently showing at] http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2016/primaries/2016-06-07
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California Democratic Primary
June 7, 2016
All precincts reporting
updated as of June 14, 2016
Clinton 55.5%, 2,211,141 votes
Sanders 43.5%, 1,734,317 votes
Clinton lead 476,824 votes
[(drawn from) as reported at] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/14/california-primary-vote-tightens-as-sanders-supporters-hope-for-a-miracle/ [with embedded videos, and comments]
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California Presidential Primary Election
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
100.0% ( 22,356 of 22,356 ) precincts partially reporting as of June 21, 2016, 11:03 a.m.
Clinton 54.5%, 2,529,320 votes
Sanders 44.6%, 2,073,646 votes
Clinton lead 455,674 votes
[(drawn from) as currently at] http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/president/party/democratic/
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District of Columbia Democratic Primary
June 14, 2016
All precincts reporting
Last updated: 10:20 a.m. on June 15, 2016
Clinton 78.7%, 75,223 votes
Sanders 21.1%, 20,137 voyes
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2016/primaries/2016-06-14
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Clinton, Sanders talk after the former wins D.C. primary
June 14, 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-prepared-to-meet-with-clinton-as-district-holds-final-democratic-primary/2016/06/14/0f43d200-3239-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html [with embedded videos, and comments]
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Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Meet as Their Battle Ends
Senator Bernie Sanders, center, after meeting with Hillary Clinton in Washington on Tuesday.
JUNE 14, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/us/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign.html [with embedded video]
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Clinton wins D.C. primary, has 'positive' meeting with Sanders
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio June 13, 2016.
Jun 15, 2016
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-democrats-idUSKCN0Z0290 [with embedded video]
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Clinton’s Progressive Beacon Is a Former Goldman Sachs Banker and Bob Rubin Protégé
Gary Gensler
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
by Jennifer Epstein
June 16, 2016 — 4:00 AM CDT
Over tea at Hillary Clinton’s Washington home in late 2014, Elizabeth Warren warned her host that when it comes to Wall Street, what mattered most was the people Clinton surrounded herself with.
Months later, as Clinton launched her presidential campaign, Gary Gensler, who had been a Goldman Sachs banker before he became a senior policy aide and Bob Rubin protégé during the deregulatory years of Bill Clinton’s Treasury Department, came on board, in part to serve as a driving force behind her economic-policy shop. Remarkably, Warren would be one of his strongest supporters.
The deeper explanation is that Gensler is a financial-policy unicorn—a deregulator turned reformer. As head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Gensler became known as one of President Barack Obama’s toughest regulators, willing to buck his friends and former colleagues to tighten rules on the $400 trillion swaps market following the 2008 crisis. His name became an expletive to many on Wall Street, to the delight of Warren and her allies.
Now, Gensler (along with Mandy Grunwald, who works with both women) is a central conduit between Warren and Clinton. “Gary is tough, smart, and principled, and he really understands what it takes to make our economy work better for hardworking families. During his time at the CFTC, he showed that he is willing to take on the big banks and fight to make our financial system safer,” said Warren, who met with Clinton last week after endorsing the presumptive Democratic nominee. “I really respect him.”
That doesn’t mean that Gensler’s history doesn’t continue to shadow him—along with an old adversary, Bernie Sanders. “Unfortunately,” said Warren Gunnels, Sanders’ top policy adviser in the Senate and on his campaign, “Gary Gensler still has not learned the lessons of the late ’90s and of deregulating Wall Street.”
‘More Mission for the Money’
Since he joined the campaign in April 2015, Gensler, 58, has been advising Clinton not just on financial policy but on trade and taxes. With his help, she’s focused in on the so-called shadow banking system—non-bank entities that behave like banks but do not face the same regulations—as a key area in need of more rules. He’s also resisted activist pressure to support a 21st-century Glass-Steagall Act.
His official post, which he requested, is chief financial officer. At Clinton headquarters, signs hang above each department, briefly distilling what each does. The slogan for Gensler’s team could also be campaign manager Robby Mook’s mantra: more mission for the money. It’s not a radical concept, but it is a big change from 2008, when Clinton’s campaign spent more than it raised in its final three quarters and ended with $22.5 million in debt.
Gensler, who tended to high-level surrogates and donors as a senior adviser to Clinton in 2008, had the financial pressures of that race in mind when he told her that the way he could be most helpful this time around was as CFO. Looking at an operation that, if Clinton were to become the nominee, would, along with the Democratic National Committee, need to raise and spend $1 billion and hire 4,000 people, Gensler thought he could make it all work, with enough money for the mission. He’d been counting money since he was a kid, helping his dad’s vending business, and his final job at Goldman Sachs, co-head of finance, included many of the functions of a CFO.
Even for a former regulator, it’s not the most glamorous role; every day, he’s given a big stack of checks to sign. He insisted on using strict accounting practices so that the campaign wouldn’t fall into debt by leaving costs off its balance sheet until bills are paid, as campaigns often do. He hopes to end the campaign in November with nothing left in the bank and no debt, either. Obama 2012 ended with nearly $5.7 million in debt.
Gensler’s portfolio stretches into other areas as well. He, along with campaign lawyer Marc Elias and national finance director Dennis Cheng, led the process last year to create the Hillary Victory Fund, which jointly raises money for the campaign, the DNC, and state Democratic parties. He’s also helping to plan the Democratic National Convention, along with the campaign’s chief administrative officer, Charlie Baker. On debate nights during the Democratic primary, he sat in the war room. Ahead of those debates, where Wall Street was almost always a flashpoint, he helped prepare for debate prep sessions with the candidate.
Like other high-level Clinton aides, Gensler occasionally headlines fundraisers, including one in April hosted by staffers who worked on Dodd-Frank and one this week [ https://www.hillaryclinton.com/events/tickets/UQSA3V7SBUAMABTF/ ] organized by employees of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, which is regulated by the CFTC, including former CFTC Commissioner Mark Wetjen.
It’s an enormous time commitment. But Gensler’s wife died in 2006 and the youngest of his three daughters just finished her freshman year of college.
What Gary Wants
Gensler has already served in a senior administration job and could afford to never work again (during the early 2000s, he was a stay-at-home dad and caretaker to his wife). Instead, he’s logging 20-hour days not just because he believes in Clinton and wants to help her win but because his ambitions don’t end at what he’s already done.
He’s seen as a possible Treasury secretary [ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-29/one-of-these-people-could-be-the-next-u-s-treasury-secretary ] for Clinton, if not first out of the gate at the start of her administration then later on (perhaps after Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg or Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard, if Clinton chooses to nominate the first-ever woman to lead the department).
Gensler met the then-first lady at end of Bill Clinton’s administration, when he was an aide to Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. They came across each other again during Hillary Clinton’s early years in the Senate and by the time she was running for a second term representing New York, Gensler and his family were hosting a fundraiser for her at their Baltimore home.
Clinton’s infamous e-mail server contains evidence of their relationship. While Clinton served as secretary of state, Gensler occasionally wrote to her private e-mail address to share his thoughts on the global economy and to ask for career advice.
In the weeks after Obama was re-elected, he twice wrote to Clinton asking for some time to talk about his next steps in the administration. “All is well at the CFTC, but it would be wonderful to benefit from your views on how to consider other opportunities to contribute,” he said in one message. He also sent her a link to a glowing profile in Time magazine that declared him to be “The Money Cop.”
The next month, as Clinton recovered from a concussion, he sent notes wishing her well and praising a joint interview she did with Obama. “You sounded and looked wonderful tonight on 60 Minutes,” he said.
Progressive But Practical
Part of Gensler’s influence stems from his temperamental similarities to his candidate.
“Gary’s a progressive but he’s a practical guy,” said Bart Chilton, a Democrat who was a CFTC commissioner when Gensler was the agency’s chair. “He’s not a left-wing nut. Some people might disagree given all the rules we did. But he’s a guy who’s able to say, ‘No, let’s figure out how we get this done that’s actually going to work, not just what you might want to do.’”
Gensler and Clinton share a preference for the nuts and bolts of policy-making over the posturing of campaigns. “Policy-making on a presidential campaign isn’t like it is on Capitol Hill or in the executive branch,” Chilton said.
In many quarters, Gensler’s hiring sent an important signal. Key progressive groups see Gensler as a positive influence on the campaign and, potentially, a future Clinton administration. “If it touches on jobs, growth, the economy, or finance, Gary’s opinion is sought and very carefully weighed,” said Dennis Kelleher, chief executive officer of Better Markets, which advocates for tougher financial regulations.
Gensler’s credibility with progressives is crucial, both because of Clinton’s own Wall Street ties and because of the backgrounds of some of her other advisers.
“There are circles of people whose roles are unclear who are associated with the Wall Street wing of the party. That bothers us,” said a top official at a labor union who asked not to be named speaking before the union had endorsed Clinton.
The locus of these concerns is Gene Sperling, who ran the National Economic Council in the Clinton and Obama White Houses and is an important outside adviser, especially on issues like manufacturing and housing. Some progressives point to pro-Wall Street positions he took in the Clinton and Obama administrations as reason for concern, and also fret that even as the Clinton campaign tries to keep its distance from Summers, the former treasury secretary is influencing the campaign through his relationship with Sperling. Michael Pyle, a former economic aide in the Obama administration who works at BlackRock, is an unpaid adviser to the campaign on finance policy.
Gensler is temperamentally suited to resisting pressure. To those who don’t agree with him—and even sometimes to those who do—his drive to achieve can come off as an unwillingness to listen to others. One Republican who worked with him at the CFTC complained that when the agency started work on a new rule, he already had certain goals in mind and directed the agency’s staff to pursue them without seeking the collaboration and consensus that had been part of how the agency worked under other chairs.
Winning Over the Left
Gensler was once a charter member of the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party. After earning two degrees at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he spent 18 years at Goldman Sachs, rising to co-head of finance before being brought to the Treasury Department by his former colleague, Rubin. He served as assistant secretary for financial markets from 1997 to 1999 and then became undersecretary of the Treasury for domestic finance for the remainder of the Clinton administration. In those roles, he pushed for the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which deregulated the over-the-counter derivatives market, and he joined his bosses in supporting the bill that repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act.
When he was nominated by President-elect Obama in late 2008 to run the CFTC, his work during the last Democratic administration came back to haunt him.
The Democratic majority in the Senate confirmed Obama’s top economic nominees with little resistance, aware that senior jobs needed to be filled in the midst of a deep recession, even as progressives fretted that his picks were heavy on Clinton administration veterans sympathetic to Wall Street. Along with other Senate progressives, Washington state’s Maria Cantwell had concerns about Gensler’s record on derivatives regulation during his time at Treasury Department and also wanted to make a broader point about Obama’s nominees. Sanders also put a hold on the nomination.
In the face of this opposition, Gensler made a concerted effort to show liberal Democrats that he wasn’t a typical Rubinite and, unlike most of Bill Clinton’s economic team, would publicly acknowledge the deregulatory missteps of the late 1990s that contributed to the 2008 crash. “Looking back now, it is clear to me that all of us that were involved at the time—and certainly myself—should have done more to protect the American public through aggressive regulation, comprehensive regulation,” he said during a grilling by then-Iowa Senator Tom Harkin during his confirmation hearing.
When Gensler was nominated, “people were really skeptical about him. He’d come from Goldman Sachs, he’d been in the Clinton administration with a lot of people who were of Wall Street and that’s how they viewed the world,” recalled former Senator Ted Kaufman, the Delaware Democrat who took Joe Biden’s place in the Senate at the start of the Obama administration.
Gensler made the sale with most progressives because he made clear that “he really wanted to do everything we can to fix the problems that caused the financial crisis, make our markets fairer, make our markets safer," Kaufman continued. “He was single-minded about it.”
Gensler played a key role in drafting the Dodd-Frank Act and then used the powers in it to expand the CFTC’s reach to include not just the $35 trillion futures market but also the swaps market, which is more than 10 times larger.
“He’s a good example of someone drawn from the industry who can provide value added,” said Sheila Bair, a Republican who chaired the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from 2006 to 2011.
Burnt
For all the progressives he convinced that he’d left Goldman Sachs and Rubin behind, there was one glaring exception: Sanders.
Sanders opposed Gensler’s nomination for months in early 2009, arguing that a Rubinite could never fit the bill. “Gary Gensler, as part of the Treasury Department under Robert Rubin, pushed for the repeal of Glass-Steagall, the breakdown of those walls, which have led us precisely to where Citigroup is today, where AIG is today,” Sanders said in a March 2009 interview with Democracy Now. “This is a hard-working guy. He is a decent guy. I don’t have any animus against him personally. But I think President Obama has brought around him a lot of the Rubin mentality, which is not only deregulation, it’s unfettered free trade.”
After working to persuade Sanders and other progressives for another two months, Gensler’s nomination finally got a vote on the Senate floor, where he was confirmed 88 to 6. Sanders and five Democrats were the no votes.
While Sanders said that his post might give Gensler the opportunity for a “Nixon in China” moment, he was never fully satisfied with Gensler’s work.
“Senator Sanders was very disappointed in the role he played at the CFTC to not move aggressively to eliminate excessive oil speculation in the commodities futures market,” said Gunnels.
Gensler’s allies rebut that, arguing that he did all he could given that the agency’s lawyers didn’t believe its emergency powers could be invoked.
But Sanders and his team have never revised their opinion. “There’s a myth that he was somehow a strong regulator,” Gunnels said.
Ahead of Sanders’ big Wall Street policy speech in January, Gensler offered a prebuttal for the Clinton campaign, urging the Vermont senator to include proposals aimed at reining in risks in the shadow banking system and chastising him for so far taking “a hands-off approach to some of the riskiest institutions and activities in our economy, which were among the biggest culprits during the 2008 crisis.”
Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs fired back at the time with a statement aimed squarely at Gensler’s pre-2001 résumé: “Senator Sanders won’t be taking advice on how to regulate Wall Street from a former Goldman Sachs partner and a former Treasury Department official who helped Wall Street rig the system.”
Some progressives say that, with regard to Gensler, Sanders went too far.
An aide to another senator involved with financial issues said that “Bernie misplayed his Gary interaction” by turning against Gensler rather than embracing the good he’s done. “He was a tougher regulator than anybody else who was an agency chair and deserves credit for that.”
“It was just kind of jarring in the way that they went after Gary,” the staffer added, declining to be named since his office works with Sanders’ team on many issues.
Gunnels said the whole flap “almost seemed like it was kind of payback for Senator Sanders’ hold he had placed on him.”
Gunnels declined to speculate on whether Sanders would block a future nomination of Gensler but, he added, “I think it’s safe to say that Gary Gensler would not be in a Bernie Sanders administration.”
©2016 Bloomberg L.P.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-06-16/gary-gensler-profile
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Oprah Winfrey on Hillary Clinton: ‘I’m with her’
Oprah Winfrey arrives at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif., in February 2015.
June 16, 2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2016/06/16/oprah-winfrey-on-hillary-clinton-im-with-her/ [with comments]
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Exclusive: Armitage to back Clinton over Trump
Richard Armitage is one of the most prominent Republican foreign policy experts to not back Donald Trump.
Getty
Former Reagan and Bush appointee is highest-ranking Republican to break ranks for Hillary.
By Michael Crowley
06/16/16 11:54 AM EDT
Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state under George W. Bush, says he will vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump, in one of the most dramatic signs yet that Republican national security elites are rejecting their party’s presumptive nominee.
Armitage, a retired Navy officer who also served as an assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan, is thought by Clinton aides to be the highest-ranking former GOP national security official to openly support Clinton over Trump.
“If Donald Trump is the nominee, I would vote for Hillary Clinton,” Armitage told POLITICO in a brief interview. “He doesn't appear to be a Republican, he doesn't appear to want to learn about issues. So, I’m going to vote for Mrs. Clinton.”
Dozens of Republican foreign policy elites have already declared [ http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/trump-clinton-neoconservatives-220151 ] their unwillingness to support or work for Trump, though far fewer say they would cast a ballot for Clinton. The latter group includes Max Boot, a prominent neoconservative military analyst and historian; Mark Salter, former longtime chief of staff to Republican Sen. John McCain; and retired Army Col. Peter Mansour, a former top aide to retired Gen. David Petraeus.
More national security heavyweights with conservative credentials could emerge in opposition to Trump in the coming months, though. Several retired generals, some with strong Republican connections, are privately alarmed over Trump’s candidacy and are debating whether to say so publicly. One retired general who served in a senior command role during the Obama years said former generals and officers are wary of the political fray, but that he expects a group of them “probably will try to energize something.”
One former senior commander, the retired four-star Marine Gen. James T. Mattis, even recently considered joining the 2016 presidential race as an independent candidate, at the behest of a group of anti-Trump Republicans that includes Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, who discussed the idea with Mattis over dinner in Washington in late April. Kristol says the general gave the idea serious consideration. Mattis has never declared a party affiliation but is widely believed to lean Republican.
Armitage declined to say whether he has ever voted for a Democrat in a presidential election. In 2008, he advised the campaign of Republican John McCain. In 2012, he gave at least one interview [ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-09-18/romney-s-47-with-no-taxes-include-elderly-poor-workers ] critical of GOP nominee Mitt Romney, though he did not say how he planned to vote.
Armitage gained national prominence in 2006 when he admitted to revealing the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame to the columnist Robert Novak after her husband, Joe Wilson, publicly challenged Bush administration claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He has called the act “foolish” and unintentional, and was never charged in the ensuing federal investigation.
Armitage told POLITICO Thursday that he didn’t know whether more Republicans might soon back Clinton. But he added that many of his conservative friends with national security backgrounds “are confused” by the choice before them and unsure about what to do.
“They’re in kind of a fog,” he said.
© 2016 POLITICO LLC
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/richard-armitage-endorses-clinton-224431 [with comments]
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AFL-CIO announces support for Clinton, slams Trump as an ‘unstable charlatan’
Hillary Clinton meets supporters at the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton on Wednesday.
(Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
By John Wagner
June 16, 2016
The AFL-CIO on Thursday formally announced [ http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/AFL-CIO-Votes-to-Endorse-Hillary-Clinton-for-President ] its support for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, framing the fall election against Republican Donald Trump as “a stark choice between an unstoppable champion for working families and an unstable charlatan who made his fortune scamming them.”
The backing of the largest umbrella group for the nation’s labor unions was widely expected to go to Clinton, but the 12.5 million member organization held off making an endorsement during a contentious primary season in which many rank-and-file union members sided with Clinton’s Democratic rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
In a statement, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised Sanders, saying he “brought an important voice to this election and has elevated critical issues and strengthened the foundation of our movement.”
The remarks of Trumka and other labor leaders focused largely on what's ahead, however.
Trumka said the AFL-CIO would run “a sophisticated, targeted ground campaign” to benefit Clinton. “And with the dire consequences Donald Trump poses for America’s working families, it has to be,” he added.
In a statement, Clinton said [ https://www.hillaryclinton.com/briefing/statements/2016/06/16/hillary-clinton-statement-on-afl-cio-endorsement/ ] she would fight for several labor priorities, including making “the biggest investment in infrastructure since the Interstate Highway System.”
“To build a 21st century economy, we need 21st century roads, ports, transit systems, water systems, and electric grids,” she said.
Clinton also pledged to advocate for raising the federal minimum wage, guaranteeing paid family leave for workers and securing equal pay for women.
Thursday’s vote to endorse Clinton was not in doubt. It required a two-thirds majority of the AFL-CIO membership and a majority of the 57 member unions were already confirmed Clinton supporters.
Donald Trump responded to the news with a lengthy statement [ https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-statement-on-afl-cio-endorsement-of-hillary-clinton ], asserting that "the leadership of the AFL-CIO has made clear that it no longer represents American workers" and had "become part of the rigged system in Washington, D.C. that benefits only the insiders."
"I believe their members will be voting for me in much larger numbers than for her," said Trump.
The presumptive Republican nominee for president went on to present himself as the true heir to Bernie Sanders, a tactic he's used since it became clear that Clinton would power past him and secure the nomination.
"Hillary Clinton and her husband have made hundreds of millions of dollars doing favors and selling access to Wall Street, special interests and oppressive foreign regimes," said Trump. "As Bernie Sanders said, 'Why, over her political career, has Wall Street been the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton?' They own Hillary Clinton and she will do whatever they tell her to. Bernie Sanders is also 100 percent correct when he says that Hillary Clinton 'vote[d] for virtually every trade agreement that has cost the workers of this country millions of jobs.'"
Anne Gearan and David Weigel contributed to this report.
© 2016 The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/16/afl-cio-announces-support-for-clinton-slams-trump-as-an-unstable-charlatan/
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Bernie Sanders - National Live Stream Address
Streamed live on Jun 16, 2016 by Bernie 2016
The political revolution continues.
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The Political Revolution Continues
Prepared Remarks
June 16, 2016
Election days come and go. But political and social revolutions that attempt to transform our society never end. They continue every day, every week and every month in the fight to create a nation of social and economic justice. That’s what the trade union movement is about. That’s what the civil rights movement is about. That’s what the women’s movement is about. That’s what the gay rights movement is about. That’s what the environmental movement is about.
And that’s what this campaign has been about over the past year. That’s what the political revolution is about and that’s why the political revolution must continue into the future.
Real change never takes place from the top down, or in the living rooms of wealthy campaign contributors. It always occurs from the bottom on up – when tens of millions of people say “enough is enough” and become engaged in the fight for justice. That’s what the political revolution we helped start is all about. That’s why the political revolution must continue.
When we began this campaign a little over a year ago, we had no political organization, no money and very little name recognition. The media determined that we were a fringe campaign. Nobody thought we were going anywhere.
Well, a lot has changed over a year.
During this campaign, we won more than 12 million votes. We won 22 state primaries and caucuses. We came very close – within 2 points or less – in five more states.
In other words, our vision for the future of this country is not some kind of fringe idea. It is not a radical idea. It is mainstream. It is what millions of Americans believe in and want to see happen.
And something else extraordinarily important happened in this campaign that makes me very optimistic about the future of our country – something that, frankly, I had not anticipated. In virtually every state that we contested we won the overwhelming majority of the votes of people 45 years of age or younger, sometimes, may I say, by huge numbers. These are the people who are determined to shape the future of this country. These are the people who ARE the future of this country.
Together, in this campaign, 1.5 million people came out to our rallies and town meetings in almost every state in the country.
Together, hundreds of thousands of volunteers made 75 million phone calls urging their fellow citizens into action.
Together, our canvassers knocked on more than 5 million doors.
Together, we hosted 74,000 meetings in every state and territory in this country.
Together, 2.7 million people made over 8 million individual contributions to our campaign – more contributions at this point than any campaign in American history. Amazingly, the bulk of those contributions came from low-income and working people whose donations averaged $27 apiece. In an unprecedented way, we showed the world that we could run a strong national campaign without being dependent on the big-money interests whose greed has done so much to damage our country.
And let me give a special thanks to the financial support we received from students struggling to repay their college loans, from seniors and disabled vets on Social Security, from workers earning starvation wages and even from people who were unemployed.
In every single state that we contested we took on virtually the entire political establishment – U.S. senators, members of Congress, governors, mayors, state legislators and local party leaders. To those relatively few elected officials who had the courage to stand with us, I say thank you. We must continue working together into the future.
This campaign has never been about any single candidate. It is always about transforming America.
It is about ending a campaign finance system which is corrupt and allows billionaires to buy elections.
It is about ending the grotesque level of wealth and income inequality that we are experiencing where almost all new wealth and income goes to the people on top, where the 20 wealthiest people own more wealth than the bottom 150 million.
It is about creating an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent.
It is about ending the disgrace of native Americans who live on the Pine Ridge, South Dakota, reservation having a life expectancy lower than many third-world countries.
It is about ending the incredible despair that exists in many parts of this country where – as a result of unemployment and low wages, suicide, drugs and alcohol – millions of Americans are now dying, in an ahistorical way, at a younger age than their parents.
It is about ending the disgrace of having the highest level of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth and having public school systems in inner cities that are totally failing our children – where kids now stand a greater chance of ending up in jail than ending up with a college degree.
It is about ending the disgrace that millions of undocumented people in this country continue to live in fear and are exploited every day on their jobs because they have no legal rights.
It is about ending the disgrace of tens of thousands of Americans dying every year from preventable deaths because they either lack health insurance, have high deductibles or cannot afford the outrageously high cost of the prescription drugs they need.
It is about ending the disgrace of hundreds of thousands of bright young people unable to go to college because their families are poor or working class, while millions more struggle with suffocating levels of student debt.
It is about ending the pain of a young single mother in Nevada, in tears, telling me that she doesn’t know how she and her daughter can make it on $10.45 an hour. And the reality that today millions of our fellow Americans are working at starvation wages.
It is about ending the disgrace of a mother in Flint, Michigan, telling me what has happened to the intellectual development of her child as a result of lead in the water in that city, of many thousands of homes in California and other communities unable to drink the polluted water that comes out of their faucets.
In America. In the year 2016. In a nation whose infrastructure is crumbling before our eyes.
It is about ending the disgrace that too many veterans still sleep out on the streets, that homelessness is increasing and that tens of millions of Americans, because of a lack of affordable housing, are paying 40, 50 percent or more of their limited incomes to put a roof over their heads.
It is about ending the disgrace that, in a given year, corporations making billions in profit avoid paying a nickel in taxes because they stash their money in the Cayman Islands and other tax havens.
This campaign is about defeating Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president. After centuries of racism, sexism and discrimination of all forms in our country we do not need a major party candidate who makes bigotry the cornerstone of his campaign. We cannot have a president who insults Mexicans and Latinos, Muslims, women and African-Americans. We cannot have a president who, in the midst of so much income and wealth inequality, wants to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the very rich. We cannot have a president who, despite all of the scientific evidence, believes that climate change is a hoax.
The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly. And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time.
But defeating Donald Trump cannot be our only goal. We must continue our grassroots efforts to create the America that we know we can become. And we must take that energy into the Democratic National Convention on July 25 in Philadelphia where we will have more than 1,900 delegates.
I recently had the opportunity to meet with Secretary Clinton and discuss some of the very important issues facing our country and the Democratic Party. It is no secret that Secretary Clinton and I have strong disagreements on some very important issues. It is also true that our views are quite close on others. I look forward, in the coming weeks, to continued discussions between the two campaigns to make certain that your voices are heard and that the Democratic Party passes the most progressive platform in its history and that Democrats actually fight for that agenda. I also look forward to working with Secretary Clinton to transform the Democratic Party so that it becomes a party of working people and young people, and not just wealthy campaign contributors: a party that has the courage to take on Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry, the fossil fuel industry and the other powerful special interests that dominate our political and economic life.
As I have said throughout this campaign, the Democratic Party must support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, and create millions of jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.
We must ensure that women will no longer make 79-cents on the dollar compared to men and that we fight for pay equity.
We must fight to make certain that women throughout the country have the right to control their own bodies.
We must protect the right of our gay brothers and sisters to marriage equality in every state America.
As the recent tragedy in Orlando has made crystal clear, we must ban the sale and distribution of assault weapons, end the gun show loophole and expand instant background checks.
We must defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership and make certain that that bad trade deal does not get a vote in a lame-duck session of Congress.
We must resist all efforts to cut Social Security and, in fact, expand benefits for our seniors and disabled veterans.
We must understand that the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street has to end, that we need to pass modern-day Glass-Steagall legislation and that we need to break up the biggest financial institutions in this country who not only remain too big to fail but who prevent the kind of vigorous competition that a healthy financial system requires.
We must aggressively combat climate change and transform our energy system, move to energy efficiency and sustainable energy and impose a tax on carbon. It means that, in order to protect our water supply, we ban fracking.
We must compete effectively in a global economy by making public colleges and universities tuition free and substantially reduce student debt.
We must join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all people as a right and not a privilege.
We must end the disgrace of having more people in jail than any other country on earth and move toward real criminal justice reform at the federal, state and local levels.
We must pass comprehensive immigration reform and provide a path toward citizenship for 11 million undocumented people.
We must take a hard look at the waste, cost overruns and inefficiencies in every branch of government –including the Department of Defense. And we must make certain our brave young men and women in the military are not thrown into perpetual warfare in the Middle East or other wars we should not be fighting.
But the political revolution means much more than fighting for our ideals at the Democratic National Convention and defeating Donald Trump.
It means that, at every level, we continue the fight to make our society a nation of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.
It means that we can no longer ignore the fact that, sadly, the current Democratic Party leadership has turned its back on dozens of states in this country and has allowed right-wing politicians to win elections in some states with virtually no opposition – including some of the poorest states in America. The Democratic Party needs a 50-state strategy. We may not win in every state tomorrow but we will never win unless we recruit good candidates and develop organizations that can compete effectively in the future. We must provide resources to those states which have so long been ignored.
Most importantly, the Democratic Party needs leadership which is prepared to open its doors and welcome into its ranks working people and young people. That is the energy that we need to transform the Democratic Party, take on the special interests and transform our country.
Here is a cold, hard fact that must be addressed. Since 2009, some 900 legislative seats have been lost to Republicans in state after state throughout this country. In fact, the Republican Party now controls 31 state legislatures and controls both the governors’ mansions and statehouses in 23 states. That is unacceptable.
We need to start engaging at the local and state level in an unprecedented way. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers helped us make political history during the last year. These are people deeply concerned about the future of our country and their own communities. Now we need many of them to start running for school boards, city councils, county commissions, state legislatures and governorships. State and local governments make enormously important decisions and we cannot allow right-wing Republicans to increasingly control them.
I hope very much that many of you listening tonight are prepared to engage at that level. Please go to my website at berniesanders.com/win to learn more about how you can effectively run for office or get involved in politics at the local or state level. I have no doubt that with the energy and enthusiasm our campaign has shown that we can win significant numbers of local and state elections if people are prepared to become involved. I also hope people will give serious thought to running for statewide offices and the U.S. Congress.
And when we talk about transforming America, it is not just about elections. Many of my Republican colleagues believe that government is the enemy, that we need to eviscerate and privatize virtually all aspects of government – whether it is Social Security, Medicare, the VA, EPA, the Postal Service or public education. I strongly disagree. In a democratic civilized society, government must play an enormously important role in protecting all of us and our planet. But in order for government to work efficiently and effectively, we need to attract great and dedicated people from all walks of life. We need people who are dedicated to public service and can provide the services we need in a high quality and efficient way.
When we talk about a Medicare-for-all health care program and the need to make sure all of our people have quality health care, it means that we need tens of thousands of new doctors, nurses, dentists, psychologists and other medical personnel who are prepared to practice in areas where people today lack access to that care.
It means that we need hundreds of thousands of people to become childcare workers and teachers so that our young people will get the best education available in the world.
It means that as we combat climate change and transform our energy system away from fossil fuels, we need scientists and engineers and entrepreneurs who will help us make energy efficiency, solar energy, wind energy, geothermal and other developing technologies as efficient and cost effective as possible.
It means that as we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, we need millions of skilled construction workers of all kinds.
It means that when we talk about growing our economy and creating jobs, we need great business people who can produce and distribute the products and services we need in a way that respects their employees and the environment.
In other words, we need a new generation of people actively involved in public service who are prepared to provide the quality of life the American people deserve.
Let me conclude by once again thanking everyone who has helped in this campaign in one way or another. We have begun the long and arduous process of transforming America, a fight that will continue tomorrow, next week, next year and into the future.
My hope is that when future historians look back and describe how our country moved forward into reversing the drift toward oligarchy, and created a government which represents all the people and not just the few, they will note that, to a significant degree, that effort began with the political revolution of 2016.
Thank you very much. Good night.
© Bernie 2016
https://berniesanders.com/political-revolution-continues/
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzHSNjctOCk [comments disabled]
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Sanders campaign manager on state of bid
Morning Joe
6/17/16
Bernie Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver joins Morning Joe to discuss the state of Sanders' presidential bid, meeting with the Clinton campaign. Duration: 4:43
Will This Guy Shut Off the Lights in the Sanders Campaign?
Jeff Weaver with Bernie Sanders in Youngstown, Ohio, in March.
Mr. Weaver’s comic books and gaming store in Falls Church, Va.
JUNE 11, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/fashion/bernie-sanders-campaign-jeff-weaver.html
©2016 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/sanders-campaign-manager-on-state-of-bid-707531843932 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i8bv2KKml4 [with comments]
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Bernie Supporters Practice Getting Arrested At The Democratic Convention
Alex Wong / Getty Images
In the basement of The People’s Summit, progressives simulated protests and arrests. Update: A spokesperson for Philadelphia’s mayor says peaceful protesters have nothing to be worried about.
By Evan McMorris-Santoro
Originally posted on Jun. 18, 2016, at 8:32 p.m.
Updated on Jun. 19, 2016, at 9:07 a.m.
CHICAGO — The big question this weekend in Chicago is how to turn the Bernie Sanders movement into a lasting element of Democratic politics.
For some of the Sanders faithful on Saturday afternoon, the answer was locking arms on a civic center floor and struggling as “police officers” pulled them apart and “arrested” them.
The People’s Summit conference, sponsored by the National Nurses United — a progressive union that backed Sanders to the hilt during his run for president [see in particular (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=120526832 and preceding and following, http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=120533198 and preceding and following] — is aimed at uniting all elements of progressivism into a single effort that exerts pressure on the Democratic Party and its presumptive presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. Mourning Sanders’ loss and imagining what might have been was one part of the conversation.
Another saw older, established progressive leaders urging Sanders’ youth legion to stick together and try to achieve Bernie’s political revolution through more conventional means like influencing the Democratic Party platform and working in the grassroots for like-minded down-ballot candidates.
In the basement of the Lakeside Center, where the Summit was held, some of those younger Sanders supporters prepared for what they called “direct action” — loud, consistent, and perhaps disruptive protest outside the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Several dozen of them attended a training on how to march, how to follow a chant, how to defy police orders to disperse by sitting and locking arms in what’s called a “human chain,” and how to conduct themselves when the police stepped in and physically removed them.
Trainers wearing fake badges waded among the chanting and human-chained “protesters,” pulling them apart, putting their hands behind their backs, and leading them away.
The simulation was for what training leaders called “a blockade,” but they stressed blocking busy intersections or other disruptions may not be what the final protest plan looks like. “Direct action,” said participants in the training, is non-violent and peaceful.
Thousands of Sanders supporters have already signed a Facebook petition [ http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Protest-Campgrounds-Massive-De-Registration-Could-Mark-Turbulent-DNC-382112671.html ] promising to protest the Democratic convention. Many of those gathered at The People’s Summit expected those protests to include police stepping in. Rumors of police efforts to push protests back from the convention site or other efforts by the authorities to quiet the Sanders uprising abounded in the training session.
“They’re going to arrest people, period, end of story. So we just want to prepare ourselves,” said Cassidy Turner of San Diego. “We’re not going to be violent, we don’t really have a reason to get arrested but it’s going to happen. So we want to prepare ourselves.”
The protests will be ineffective if they don’t attract at least some attention from delegates in Philadelphia, Sanders supporters said.
“If we just let it be as convenient as possible, then that’s usually what’s most inconvenient for America,” said Cain Deheve of Chicago. “We don’t want to disrupt the outside world. We want to show them that there’s something serious going on here and we wouldn’t just be risking getting arrested or anything else for no reason.”
“Getting arrested itself is not what really proves anything. But I believe that there is a reason that [Philadelphia authorities] have made it illegal to do protests and stuff like that,” he said. “The establishment does not want us to disrupt the actions that they are doing. They want us to stay calm. It’s not about getting arrested. It’s about questioning authority.”
UPDATE
A spokesperson for Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney rejected the idea that the city’s police are out to make arrests during the Democratic convention.
“In the last paragraph, you quote an individual who says the City of Philadelphia has made protests illegal,” Lauren Hitt, Kenney’s communications director, told BuzzFeed News in an email. “We have not. In fact, we recently decriminalized several demonstration-related infractions, including refusal to disperse.”
In recent days, elected officials in Philadelphia have passed legislation [ http://bigstory.ap.org/article/15435268c45d4d87b83f333051005ffa/philadelphia-looks-avoid-mass-arrests-dnc-protesters ] that lets police issue $100 fines for infractions similar to those which led to highly-publicized arrests during the 2000 Republican convention held in the city.
© 2016 BuzzFeed, Inc
https://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/bernie-supporters-practice-getting-arrested-at-the-democrati [with comments]
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Many Washington Sanders backers at state Democratic convention not ready to quit
Bernie Sanders made an appearance Saturday at the state Democratic convention, but as a doll made by Donna Burdick. She wore it as a companion at the event in the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center. She’s from the 38th Legislative District.
(Alan Berner/The Seattle Times)
By Jim Brunner
Originally published June 18, 2016 at 8:04 pm | Updated June 19, 2016 at 12:41 am
TACOMA — Despite calls to unify behind presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, many backers of Bernie Sanders at the state Democratic convention this weekend were not ready to suspend their political revolution.
At the gathering inside Tacoma’s convention center, hundreds of delegates met to debate the party platform and rules and to finalize a slate of delegates to the Democratic National Convention next month.
Because of Sanders’ overwhelming win in the March 26 Democratic caucuses, his supporters dominated the convention crowd, and they were not all ready to accept Clinton’s victory in the Democratic primary race. The divisions in Tacoma in some ways mirrored a similar divide at the recent Republican state convention in Pasco, where many delegates were backers of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz instead of presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Some in Tacoma booed Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley when he argued Democrats needed to put aside differences and focus on defeating Trump, whom he called “a racist, misogynist, self-promoting financial predator.”
As the lone U.S. senator to have endorsed Sanders during the primary season, Merkley was a logical choice to deliver a plea for unity. He said while Clinton was not his first choice, she was now the party’s standard-bearer.
“We have to come together,” Merkley told the crowd during a keynote speech Saturday morning. “We need Hillary Clinton to win this election.”
Merkley said the political movement and agenda started by Sanders — on ending big money in politics and other issues — was bigger than one person and would be stymied without a Democrat in the White House.
Merkley’s plea drew a mix of cheers and boos. Some in the crowd chanted “Bernie! Bernie!” and gave thumbs-down signs while one woman yelled “Noooooooo!” Others loudly applauded the call for unity.
Daniel Brown, a Sanders delegate from Bellingham, turned his back on Merkley.
Brown said Clinton will not be the Democratic nominee until delegates formally vote for her at the national convention in Philadelphia. “Between now and then we don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s premature.”
He said he was tired of being told time and again he had to vote for “the lesser of two evils.”
Mario Brown, one of the organizers of Washington for Bernie, said he was not sure how he’d vote in November but said he couldn’t support Trump. As for Clinton, he said he was not looking forward to “four or eight years of mediocrity.”
On Saturday evening, after many hours of debate and objections over rules, delegates voted for a symbolic resolution endorsing Sanders and rejected an endorsement of Clinton.
Tempers flared during that debate, as one pro-Sanders speaker labeled Clinton a “war criminal.” That comment drew loud boos and shouts from many in the crowd.
The rhetoric drove Clinton supporter Niko Battle to tears. A high-school student and chair of a Mukilteo high-school Democrat organization, Battle said he’d hoped Sanders supporters would show respect for Clinton.
“I’m very upset because I came here with the intention of unifying with my fellow Democrats … we were met with hostility,” he said, calling the convention “an atrocity.”
One Sanders supporter said she was disappointed by the attitude of some of Sanders’ fans.
Jin-Ah Kim, a Seattle delegate, said she voted for the Sanders endorsement but was disgusted by some of the hostility she saw toward Clinton. “It’s extremely divisive,” she said.
Some Clinton supporters said they believe divisions in the party will heal as the November election approaches.
“I think if they (Sanders supporters) were conscientious and caring enough to support a candidate like Bernie Sanders, then they’re conscientious and caring enough to save our country from Donald Trump,” said Melody Curtiss-Cathey, a Clinton delegate from Bainbridge Island.
She said Clinton “is going to make her case for the American public, show her heart,” and overcome any skeptics.
But periodically throughout the day, die-hard Sanders backers tossed barbs at Clinton. Andrew Dial, who ran as a candidate to be a presidential elector — those people who actually cast Electoral College votes after the November election, sarcastically praised Clinton’s success in promoting “endless war” and fracking.
Dial declared he’d refuse to follow the usual practice of presidential electors following the vote of their state. “If elected … I will refuse to vote for Hillary Clinton,” he said, drawing a chorus of boos.
Diversity was a common theme Saturday as Democrats debated changes to party rules and heard from candidates for presidential elector, who touted their identities as members of transgender, gay, Native American and other historically underrepresented communities.
Delegates overwhelmingly passed a change to state party rules aimed at making it easier for transgender people to get elected to leadership positions.
State Democratic Party chair Jaxon Ravens also announced a major change in the way Democrats pick presidential favorites in the state, saying it’s clear the party has “outgrown” the caucus system.
Democrats in Washington have traditionally used caucuses to allocate delegates to presidential candidates. In March’s precinct caucuses, Sanders easily defeated Clinton, winning 73 percent of the delegates.
In the state’s presidential primary last month, Clinton won a majority of votes, but it didn’t give her any more delegates as the Democratic Party ignored the results. Some in the party have criticized sticking with the caucus system, which draws far less participation than a primary.
While stopping short of saying Democrats will embrace the presidential primary, Ravens said the party will explore other, more inclusive options before the next presidential election in 2020.
Ravens said he was not surprised at the passion of Sanders supporters at the convention but predicted the party will come together for the fall election.
“There is unity. It can happen and it will happen. Hillary Clinton is going to be our nominee,” he said. “We’re excited about working with her campaign and making sure she wins the White House in November.”
Washington Republicans this year opted for the first time to use the state’s presidential primary results to allocate 100 percent of their presidential delegates. Trump easily won the May 24 primary, taking 75 percent of the GOP vote, though his opponents had all dropped out of the race by then.
Copyright © 2016 The Seattle Times Company
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/many-washington-sanders-backers-at-state-democratic-convention-not-ready-to-quit/ [with comments]
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An expensive reminder that Sanders still hasn’t dropped out: His Secret Service detail
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders arrives at the Capital Hilton last week, his Secret Service detail in tow, to meet with rival and presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton.
(Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
By John Wagner
June 19, 2016
BURLINGTON, Vt. — When Sen. Bernie Sanders, the now-vanquished Democratic presidential candidate, returns to Capitol Hill to vote Monday, he is expected to be accompanied by his constant traveling companions from the campaign trail: the U.S. Secret Service.
Although Hillary Clinton has clinched the party’s nomination, Sanders retains one of the trappings of a top-notch candidate. A team of agents still guards him at his home, where they’ve constructed a small watch station on the property. They travel with him on commercial and charter flights and use a motorcade to whisk him through cities he visits. And they recently marched alongside him during a gay-pride event here in his home town after the Orlando shootings.
Such round-the-clock protection can cost taxpayers more than $38,000 a day. And with the potential for the Secret Service to be watching over Sanders through the Democratic convention in Philadelphia five weeks from now, the taxpayers may get stuck with a big security bill long after his campaign receded from the daily cable-news cycle.
The continued security presence also reflects a larger reality of Sanders’s muddled standing in the Democratic race. He has virtually no chance of becoming the party’s nominee, and he is no longer pressing his case to Democratic leaders that he should. Yet Sanders remains an active candidate because he has not “suspended” his campaign or taken any other steps that would alter his official status.
“He’s in a kind of political purgatory right now,” said Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic strategist who has worked for neither the Clinton nor Sanders campaign. “He has the perception of still running for president, but he’s not doing that in reality.”
Aides to Sanders say he is most focused now on trying to parlay his unexpectedly strong performance in the Democratic primaries into concrete changes to the party’s platform and upcoming legislative agenda. To advance those goals, Sanders met last week in Washington with Clinton. Staffers are continuing to talk about how she might adopt some of the ideas, such as tuition-free college, that he pressed during his campaign.
Depending on how that effort goes, it’s possible that Sanders could endorse Clinton before the July 25 start of the convention in Philadelphia, Sanders’s campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said.
Even if that happens, Sanders has no plans to suspend his campaign before the convention, when the party’s platform is finalized, Weaver said.
Asked to explain the distinction between endorsing another candidate and dropping out, Weaver shrugged his shoulders and demurred.
The senator from Vermont declined repeated requests over the past week for an interview about the status of his campaign.
Citing a policy not to talk about issues affecting his security, Sanders’s aides declined to publicly discuss the most visible sign of his ongoing candidacy: his Secret Service protection.
Sanders’s protective detail was on full display Tuesday in Washington — the day of the final Democratic primary, in the District — as his motorcade sped from Capitol Hill to the Capital Hilton, near the White House, for the much-anticipated meeting with Clinton, which started shortly after the polls closed.
Sirens from a D.C. police SUV blared as the cars sped to a stop in the driveway, and a half-dozen Secret Service agents in dark suits exited the vehicles. A handful of them glanced around, keeping a protective circle around the gold-colored SUV that Sanders sat in. Another whispered into a microphone on his sleeve. A moment later, the agent guardedly opened the door, and Sanders and his wife, Jane, emerged.
As Sanders and his entourage breezed through the lobby, they were greeted by a large crowd of onlookers who clapped and yelled, “Bernie!”
“There’s no denying that some of the accoutrements that come with campaigns can be intoxicating,” said Jim Manley, a longtime Democratic operative who is supporting Clinton.
But Manley said he thinks there’s a broader explanation for why Sanders remains a candidate at a time when, in his view, the party would be better served by Sanders rallying around Clinton.
“He is just so convinced of the righteousness of his cause that I think he is having trouble giving it all up,” Manley said.
The Secret Service declined to discuss Sanders’s protection on the record, instead pointing to general policies and other documents already in the public realm.
“He’s still a candidate for president, so we continue to protect him,” said one agent, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for the agency.
Even with an expansive 2016 presidential field — mostly on the Republican side — Sanders was one of only four candidates to receive protection from the Secret Service during the primaries this year.
As the spouse of a former president, Clinton was already covered for life. And at various points, the service started providing coverage for Sanders and two Republicans: Donald Trump, the real estate mogul and now the GOP’s presumptive nominee, and Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who dropped out in March after disappointing showings in the first nominating contests.
By law, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to grant protection to “major” presidential candidates who request it, after consultation with an advisory committee of congressional leaders. Often, the candidate will have received threats or has reason to believe that an additional risk exists.
There is no formal trigger for ending a candidate’s protection, but that typically happens once a candidate “suspends” his campaign or otherwise makes clear he is dropping out. A candidate is also free to relieve the agents of their services at any time.
After Carson announced he was suspending his campaign, he parted ways with his Secret Service detail within two days, according to Armstrong Williams, one of his closest friends and an informal adviser. The agents dropped off after traveling with Carson to his home in West Palm Beach, Fla., said Williams, a conservative political commentator.
“He wasted no time,” Williams said of Carson. “His attitude was, ‘There’s no path forward, and I don’t want to spend the taxpayers’ money.”
Although Carson had deep respect for the work of the Secret Service, Williams said the candidate also experienced a sense of liberation once the agents were gone. He was particularly eager to drive his own car again.
“You don’t really have a life,” Williams said. “They’re with you everywhere.”
There have been previous controversies over whether presidential candidates are hanging on to their Secret Service protection for too long.
During the 2012 race, a conservative-taxpayers group called on Republican Newt Gingrich to give up his protection once it appeared that he not longer had a path to the nomination. The push coincided with Gingrich campaign stops in North Carolina at a NASCAR training facility, a racing museum and a zoo.
In a brief email exchange over the weekend, Gingrich said he thinks it is appropriate for Sanders to keep his protection through the Democratic convention, if he is still an official candidate for the party’s nomination.
In its fiscal year 2016 budget request, the Secret Service estimated it would need $123.5 million to carry out its protection of presidential candidates. That included party conventions and debates.
The Service would not discuss costs associated with individual candidates. But in 2008, the agency’s director testified to Congress that the cost averages about $38,000 a day — a figure likely to have increased in the intervening years.
Aides to Sanders did not dispute the figure but argued that the costs associated with his coverage now are dramatically lower than they had been at the height of the campaign, when Sanders was holding several rallies a day in different cities — all of which were staffed by teams of Secret Service agents.
The aides also noted that politicians face real risks, citing the death last week of Jo Cox, a British member of Parliament who was stabbed and shot.
More recently, Sanders has been keeping a relatively low profile and spending most nights at his home in Vermont. Over the weekend, a pair of agents were stationed outside his home in a quiet Burlington neighborhood where many residents still displayed “Bernie 2016” yard signs. The siding on the small Secret Service watch station there matches that of Sanders’s home.
On Monday, Sanders plans to travel to Washington to cast his first votes in the Senate since January, on gun legislation, in the wake of the Orlando massacre.
As of Sunday, Sanders trailed Clinton by 926 delegates, according to the latest Associated Press tally. The only way for him to wrest the nomination from Clinton at the convention would be to flip the allegiances of hundreds of “superdelegates” — Democratic elected officials and other party elites — who have already announced their support for Clinton.
Sanders had vowed to undertake that task, but aides said he now has no plans to do so.
Joe Trippi, a longtime Democratic operative, said it can be “a really tough thing” for any political candidate who has run a long race to walk away from his candidacy.
But Trippi also argued that Sanders may ultimately be doing Clinton a favor by holding off on his exit from the race, particularly given how reluctant some of Sanders’s supporters are to back Clinton.
“It’s going to be a lot easier not to turn on a dime,” Trippi said. “That might be less jarring to his supporters. You slow the train down before you stop it.”
Other Democrats are less charitable.
Marsh said the delay in Sanders’s concession to Clinton is puzzling to many in the party.
“There are only two options,” she said. “He doesn’t want to land the plane, or he doesn’t know how to land the plane.”
Abby Phillip and Karen Tumulty contributed to this report.
© 2016 The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/an-expensive-reminder-that-sanders-still-hasnt-dropped-out-his-secret-service-detail/2016/06/19/a3f717c6-3555-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html [with embedded video clip, and comments]
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A Prophetic Message about Donald Trump
Published on Jun 13, 2016 by Jim Bakker Show [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl0vYj7HgMTuhogiFgy79oQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/MorningsideStudios , http://www.youtube.com/user/MorningsideStudios/videos ]
Mary Colbert and Mark Taylor reveal prophetic messages they received about Donald Trump.
WATCH THE FULL EPISODE:
https://jimbakkershow.com/video/shocking-prophecies-election-day-1/
Aired on June 9, 2016.
Connect with us:
http://www.jimbakkershow.com
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCeVCFe1Uro [comments disabled] [and see, generally and in particular the related "Jim Bakker's Guest Warns That Hillary Clinton Has The 'Spirit Of Antichrist'" included at, (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123333782 and preceding and following]
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FULL: Donald Trump Rally Speech Dallas, Texas 6/16/16
Published on Jun 16, 2016 by FOX 10 Phoenix
Watch Donald Trump Rally Speech Dallas, Texas 6/16/16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEKDDuyWILM [with comments]
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FULL: Donald Trump Rally Speech Houston, Texas 6/17/16
Published on Jun 17, 2016 by FOX 10 Phoenix
Watch Donald Trump Rally Speech Houston, Texas 6/17/16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGNzGB9y_Ks [with comments]
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FULL: Donald Trump Rally Speech Phoenix Arizona 6/18/16
Published on Jun 18, 2016 by FOX 10 Phoenix
Watch Donald Trump Rally Speech Phoenix Arizona 6/18/16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4_ci7QR1Bc [with comments]
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Donald Trump Hires The Man Who Used His Saliva To Groom Paul Wolfowitz’s Hair
If there’s anyone who can work on Trump’s hair, it’s this guy.
By Amanda Terkel
06/20/2016 02:27 pm ET
Donald Trump has brought on a new senior campaign aide to oversee his surrogate operation [ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/20/us/politics/donald-trump-hire.html ] who is most known for his unusual way of making sure his boss’ hair looks good.
Kevin Kellems will oversee the network of supporters who go out and defend Trump in the press, according to The New York Times.
Kellems has worked for a number of GOP heavyweights including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Vice President Dick Cheney and perhaps most famously, former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.
One of the most memorable scenes from Michael Moore’s 2004 documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” featured Kellems. Wolfowitz, getting ready for a media appearance, sucks on his comb and then runs it through his hair. Kellems then helps out by licking his hand to fix his boss’ hair.
Kellems confirmed to The Washington Post in 2004 that he was that aide helping Wolfowitz, joking, “Would that qualify me for hazardous duty pay [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35673-2004Jul8.html ]?”
Trump has been critical of the administration for which Kellems worked, saying he came out against the Iraq War before the U.S. invaded in 2003. There is no evidence [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-iraq-media-claims_us_5613f859e4b0368a1a613109 ], however, that Trump actually opposed the war until after the invasion.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-violence_us_56e1f16fe4b0b25c91815913 ] and is a serial liar [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-911_565b1950e4b08e945feb7326 ], rampant xenophobe [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/9-outrageous-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-latinos_55e483a1e4b0c818f618904b ], racist [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-racist-examples_us_56d47177e4b03260bf777e83 ], misogynist [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/18-real-things-donald-trump-has-said-about-women_us_55d356a8e4b07addcb442023 ] and birther [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-stephen-colbert-birther_56022a33e4b00310edf92f7a ] who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
Copyright © 2016 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kevin-kellems-donald-trump_us_57682d91e4b015db1bca179c [with comments], http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bnpTK5mgZQ [as embedded; with comments]
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What Donald Trump Learned From Joseph McCarthy’s Right-Hand Man
Roy Cohn in Manhattan in 1982. Mr. Cohn, who made his reputation as a prosecutor in the Rosenberg espionage case and as an aide to Senator Joseph McCarthy, was Mr. Trump’s lawyer for 13 years.
Credit Ron Galella/WireImage
Mr. Trump, left, with Mayor Edward I. Koch of New York and Mr. Cohn at the opening of the Trump Tower in 1983.
Credit Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images
Roy Cohn, right, with Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1954. Mr. Trump once said Mr. Cohn was a “vicious” protector.
Credit George Tames/The New York Times
Mr. Cohn and Mr. Trump in an undated photo with Steve Rubell, the co-founder of Studio 54, and Mr. Trump’s first wife, Ivana.
By JONATHAN MAHLER and MATT FLEGENHEIMER
JUNE 20, 2016
The future Mrs. Donald J. Trump [ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us/politics/donald-trump-money-campaign.html ] was puzzled.
She had been summoned to a lunch meeting with her husband-to-be and his lawyer to review a prenuptial agreement. It required that, should the couple split, she return everything — cars, furs, rings — that Mr. Trump might give her during their marriage.
Sensing her sorrow, Mr. Trump apologized, Ivana Trump later testified in a divorce deposition. He said it was his lawyer’s idea.
“It is just one of those Roy Cohn [ http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch//#/Roy+Cohn/ ] numbers,” Mr. Trump told her.
The year was 1977, and Mr. Cohn’s reputation was well established. He had been Senator Joseph McCarthy [ http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/dec-2-1954-anti-communist-senator-joseph-mccarthy-is-condemned/ ]’s Red-baiting consigliere. He had helped send the Rosenbergs [ http://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/tu_rosenberg_bio_cohn.html ] to the electric chair for spying and elect Richard M. Nixon president.
Then New York’s most feared lawyer, Mr. Cohn had a client list that ran the gamut from the disreputable to the quasi-reputable: Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno [ http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/29/us/anthony-fat-tony-salerno-80-a-top-crime-boss-dies-in-prison.html ], Claus von Bulow [ http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20085834,00.html ], George Steinbrenner [ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/sports/baseball/14steinbrenner.html ].
But there was one client who occupied a special place in Roy Cohn’s famously cold heart: Donald J. Trump [ http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/donald-trump-on-the-issues.html ].
For Mr. Cohn, who died of AIDS in 1986 [ https://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/science/aids/080386sci-aids.html ], weeks after being disbarred for flagrant ethical violations, Mr. Trump was something of a final project. If Fred Trump got his son’s career started, bringing him into the family business of middle-class rentals in Brooklyn and Queens, Mr. Cohn ushered him across the river and into Manhattan, introducing him to the social and political elite while ferociously defending him against a growing list of enemies.
Decades later, Mr. Cohn’s influence on Mr. Trump is unmistakable. Mr. Trump’s wrecking ball of a presidential bid — the gleeful smearing of his opponents, the embracing of bluster as brand — has been a Roy Cohn number on a grand scale. Mr. Trump’s response to the Orlando massacre [ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/us/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-speeches.html ], with his ominous warnings of a terrorist attack that could wipe out the country and his conspiratorial suggestions of a Muslim fifth column in the United States, seemed to have been ripped straight out of the Cohn playbook.
“I hear Roy in the things he says quite clearly,” said Peter Fraser, who as Mr. Cohn’s lover for the last two years of his life spent a great deal of time with Mr. Trump. “That bravado, and if you say it aggressively and loudly enough, it’s the truth — that’s the way Roy used to operate to a degree, and Donald was certainly his apprentice.”
For 13 years, the lawyer who had infamously whispered in McCarthy’s ear whispered in Mr. Trump’s. In the process, Mr. Cohn helped deliver some of Mr. Trump’s signature construction deals, sued the National Football League for conspiring against his client and countersued the federal government — for $100 million — for damaging the Trump name. One of Mr. Trump’s executives recalled that he kept an 8-by-10-inch photograph of Mr. Cohn in his office desk, pulling it out to intimidate recalcitrant contractors.
The two men spoke as often as five times a day, toasted each other at birthday parties and spent evenings together at Studio 54.
And Mr. Cohn turned repeatedly to Mr. Trump — one of a small clutch of people who knew he was gay — in his hours of need. When a former companion was dying of AIDS, he asked Mr. Trump to find him a place to stay. When he faced disbarment, he summoned Mr. Trump to testify to his character.
Mr. Trump says the two became so close that Mr. Cohn, who had no immediate family, sometimes refused to bill him, insisting he could not charge a friend.
“Roy was an era,” Mr. Trump said in an interview, reflecting on his years with Mr. Cohn. “They either loved him or couldn’t stand him, which was fine.”
Mr. Trump was asked if this reminded him of anyone. “Yeah,” he answered. “It does, come to think of it.”
Business, Pleasure and Power
The gossip columnist Cindy Adams, who knew everyone, had no idea who he was.
“This kid is going to own New York someday,” Mr. Cohn told her, gesturing at a tall 20-something bachelor at a dinner party in the early 1970s. “This is Donald Trump.”
“Yeah, so?” Ms. Adams recalled replying.
Mr. Cohn, the son of a prominent New York judge, had taken an uncommon interest in Mr. Trump.
The two had met not long before at a private disco called Le Club, and instantly hit it off while discussing a nettlesome obstacle for Mr. Trump. The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department was suing him and his father, accusing them of refusing to rent to black tenants [ http://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/16/archives/major-landlord-accused-of-antiblack-bias-in-city-us-accuses-major.html ]. Mr. Trump told Mr. Cohn that their lawyers were urging them to settle.
“Tell them to go to hell and fight the thing in court,’” Mr. Trump later recalled Mr. Cohn advising him.
Mr. Trump did just that, with Mr. Cohn as his lawyer. Not only did Mr. Cohn countersue the government for $100 million, he filed a blistering affidavit on Mr. Trump’s behalf, mocking the case. “The Civil Rights Division did not file a lawsuit,” Mr. Cohn wrote. “It slapped together a piece of paper for use as a press release.” The Trumps ultimately settled the case by agreeing to make apartments available to minority renters, while admitting no wrongdoing.
For Mr. Trump, the benefits of his new representation were obvious. Mr. Cohn was one of the most famous and feared lawyers in America. He would later appear on the cover of Esquire beneath an ironic halo, and earn a posthumous parody on “The Simpsons.”
But Mr. Cohn saw something in Mr. Trump, too.
“He could sniff out a power-to-be, Roy could,” said Susan Bell, Mr. Cohn’s longtime secretary.
After helping convict the Rosenbergs as a young federal prosecutor and then working in Washington as a top aide to McCarthy, Mr. Cohn had returned to New York, starting a boutique practice in his shabby but elegant townhouse on East 68th Street.
The division of labor in the firm was clear.
“We called him the rainmaker,” said Michael Rosen, a partner who handled many of the firm’s organized-crime cases. “We did all of the grunt work, if grunt work means preparing the case and trying the case.”
Mr. Cohn lived on the third floor, often traipsing downstairs in his bathrobe well after the workday had begun and taking clients upstairs to a small sun porch. The elevator rarely worked. In the winter, the lawyers stuffed towels around the windows to keep out the cold.
Parties and business meetings tended to blur, with celebrities like Andy Warhol and Estée Lauder crowding in and spilling out. “That townhouse was a workhorse,” recalled Mr. Trump, a familiar presence there himself.
He and Mr. Cohn became social companions, lunching at “21” or spending evenings at Yankee Stadium in the owner’s box of Mr. Steinbrenner, another Cohn client [ http://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/05/sports/winfield-charity-sues-steinbrenner.html ].
After Mr. Fraser entered Mr. Cohn’s life, the two were frequent dinner guests at Donald and Ivana’s Trump Tower apartment, with its Michelangelo-style murals. They were also regulars at Mr. Trump’s box at the Meadowlands, the home of his sports team [ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/sports/football/donald-trumps-less-than-artful-failure-in-pro-football.html ], the New Jersey Generals of the short-lived United States Football League.
Mr. Cohn was the master of ceremonies at a Trump birthday party at Studio 54; years later, Mr. Trump returned the favor with a birthday toast of his own at a party in the atrium of Trump Tower, joking that Mr. Cohn was more bark than bite.
“We just tell the opposition Roy Cohn is representing me, and they get scared,” Mr. Trump said, according to a cousin of Mr. Cohn’s, David L. Marcus, who attended. “He never actually does anything.”
Among the many things Mr. Trump learned from Mr. Cohn during these years was the importance of keeping one’s name in the newspapers. Long before Mr. Trump posed as his own spokesman [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trump-alter-ego-barron/2016/05/12/02ac99ec-16fe-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html ], passing self-serving tidbits to gossip columnists, Mr. Cohn was known to call in stories about himself to reporters.
It was also through Mr. Cohn that Mr. Trump met the political operative who has played a leading, if behind-the-scenes, role in his campaign: Roger Stone.
When Mr. Stone, the roguish former Nixon adviser and master of the political dark arts, came to New York in 1979 to court support for Ronald Reagan’s presidential bid, he arrived with a box of index cards filled with the names of actors and producers. And Roy Cohn.
“I made an appointment and I pitched him on Reagan, and he said, ‘You have to meet Donald and Fred Trump,’” Mr. Stone recalled in an interview.
Eventually, Mr. Cohn and Mr. Trump became so inseparable that those who could not track down Mr. Cohn knew whom to call.
Once, Mr. Cohn chartered a plane with friends, without Mr. Trump, trashing it during a midair party. He refused to pay. So the airline found Mr. Trump, asking if he could help.
He called Mr. Cohn, more amused than concerned.
“I said, ‘Roy, what are you going to do about this? I mean, you destroyed the plane,’” Mr. Trump recalled. “He said, ‘Eh, we’ll pay them someday.’”
An Invaluable Relationship
By the time Mr. Trump started getting serious with a Czech model named Ivana Winklmayr, Mr. Cohn had become something of an expert on marriage.
“It’s difficult to imagine and admit that the flush of the moment may become the flush of the toilet as the relationship goes down the tubes,” he wrote about the importance of prenuptial agreements in his book “How to Stand Up for Your Rights — and Win!”
According to “Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth,” a book by the journalist Wayne Barrett, Mr. Cohn advised Mr. Trump against marrying Ms. Winklmayr, but insisted that if he must, there had to be a prenuptial agreement. He would handle it himself.
The agreement, completed only weeks before the wedding, did not quantify Mr. Trump’s net worth — “impossible to accurately determine due to the illiquid nature of his holdings” — and took a bearish view of Mr. Trump’s earning potential and a modest view of his tastes.
“Donald’s standard of living is basically simple,” it said, calling Mr. Trump’s preferred lifestyle “neither opulent nor extravagant.”
When the marriage dissolved a few years after Mr. Cohn’s death, Mrs. Trump’s lawyers charged that she had not had proper representation on the prenup. Her initial lawyer had worked for Mr. Cohn on at least one case, and was a frequent passenger on Mr. Cohn’s yacht, the Defiance. The divorce case eventually ended with a settlement.
The prenup was just one of many Trump deals, some more conventional than others, in which Mr. Cohn was intimately involved.
He used his connections to help Mr. Trump secure zoning variances and tax abatements critical to the construction of the Grand Hyatt Hotel and the Trump Plaza.
After one Cohn coup, Mr. Trump rewarded him with a pair of diamond-encrusted cuff links and buttons in a Bulgari box.
And if Mr. Cohn did not always feel comfortable charging a friend for his services, Mr. Trump was hardly one to put up a fight.
“Roy said, ‘I’ll leave it to Donald to give me what he thinks is fair,’” Mr. Fraser recalled of one lengthy Trump tax case in particular. “But, of course, Donald didn’t give him anything.”
Some work would have been difficult to bill. For instance, Mr. Cohn lobbied his friends in the Reagan White House to nominate Mr. Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry to the federal bench. (Questioned last year about this, Mr. Trump said his sister “got the appointment totally on her own merit.”)
“He was a very good lawyer if he wanted to be,” Mr. Trump said in the interview.
Asked about Mr. Cohn in 1980, Mr. Trump was more blunt in his assessment: “He’s been vicious to others in his protection of me.”
Defiant to the End
It started with a cut that would not stop bleeding.
Mr. Cohn’s diagnosis came not long after his former companion, Russell Eldridge, had gotten his. Mr. Eldridge had spent most of his final days in a private suite overlooking Central Park in Mr. Trump’s Barbizon Plaza Hotel.
Ms. Bell, Mr. Cohn’s secretary, recalled that Mr. Trump’s secretary, Norma Foerderer, had billed Mr. Cohn for the room, and later called to say that Mr. Cohn had not paid.
“I said, ‘Guess what, Norma, he’s not going to,’” Ms. Bell said. “And she kind of knew it.”
Mr. Cohn remained in his townhouse. Until the end — and even under interrogation by Mike Wallace on “60 Minutes” — he insisted that he had liver cancer, not AIDS.
He received experimental AZT treatments in Washington and continued working. But his clients could not help but notice that his health was deteriorating.
Mr. Trump started gradually moving cases elsewhere, he said, never telling Mr. Cohn why. “There’s no reason to hurt somebody’s feelings,” he said.
“He was so weak,” Mr. Trump added. “He was so weakened that he really couldn’t do it.”
Mr. Cohn never spoke about Mr. Trump’s decision, but was plainly crushed, according to Ms. Bell. She remembers it happening not gradually, but “overnight.”
Even as his health was failing, Mr. Cohn, whom government prosecutors had unsuccessfully pursued for decades on charges including conspiracy, bribery and fraud, faced a final indignity: He was facing the prospect of disbarment. Among other offenses, he was charged with coercing a dying multimillionaire client — during a late-night visit to the man’s hospital room — to amend his will to make Mr. Cohn an executor of his estate.
The hearings were closed to the public. But true to form, Mr. Cohn, riding to the daily proceedings in a red Cadillac convertible, insisted on a spectacle, describing his accusers as “a bunch of yo-yos just out to smear me up.”
The prominent figures whom Mr. Cohn summoned to testify on his behalf included Barbara Walters and William F. Buckley Jr.
And, of course, Mr. Trump. He described his friend in simple terms.
“If I summed it up in one word,” Mr. Trump told the hearing panel, “I think the primary word I’d use is his loyalty.”
Gaunt, frail and besieged, Mr. Cohn nevertheless managed to attend a dinner with Mr. Fraser at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., shortly after Mr. Trump purchased the property in late 1985. It was a last glimpse at his final, fair-haired project.
“I made Trump successful,” he would occasionally boast, according to Mr. Marcus, Mr. Cohn’s cousin, a former journalist who chronicled Mr. Cohn’s last months for Vanity Fair [ http://www.maryellenmark.com/text/magazines/vanity%20fair/925E-000-007.html ].
In June 1986, Mr. Cohn was disbarred for “unethical,” “unprofessional” and “particularly reprehensible” conduct.
To this day, Mr. Trump rues the outcome. “They only got him because he was so sick,” Mr. Trump said in the interview. “They wouldn’t have gotten him otherwise.”
During his final days, Mr. Cohn called Mr. Trump, ostensibly for no particular reason. “It was just a call: ‘How are things going?’” Mr. Trump recalled. “Roy was the kind of guy — I don’t think he ever thought he was dying, frankly.”
About a week later, in August 1986, Mr. Trump received another call.
Mr. Trump hung up the phone, repeating the news to an associate in his office: Roy Cohn was dead [ http://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/03/obituaries/roy-cohn-aide-to-mccarthy-and-fiery-lawyer-dies-at-59.html ].
“I said, ‘Wow, that’s the end of a generation,’” Mr. Trump remembered. “‘That’s the end of an era.’”
Mr. Fraser inherited all of Mr. Cohn’s possessions: the townhouse, his weekend place in Greenwich, Conn., his Rolls-Royce, his private plane and much more. But the Internal Revenue Service, collecting on Mr. Cohn’s tax debts, confiscated nearly everything.
He did get to keep the cuff links Mr. Trump had given Mr. Cohn. Years later, Mr. Fraser had them appraised; they were knockoffs, he said.
Mr. Fraser soon returned to his native New Zealand, where he now works as a conservationist at the Auckland Zoo. He has not spoken with Mr. Trump since Mr. Cohn’s death, but he has no doubt that if his former lover were still alive, he would be an enthusiastic supporter of the Trump campaign.
“Having trained or mentored someone who became president,” he said, “that would have been quite exciting for Roy.”
Reporting was contributed by Michael Barbaro, Steve Eder, Maggie Haberman and Megan Twohey. Kitty Bennett contributed research.
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Elizabeth Warren DESTROYS Donald Trump at New Hampshire Democratic Convention - Full Speech 06/18/2016
Published on Jun 19, 2016 by Feed The Beast [ / , ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppVZM8cL2YE [with comment] [also at e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8LJGs2b9IY (with comments) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct_OofLIkas (slightly clipped at the start; no comments yet), and included in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oGyA5Jf75g (with comment)] [and see also in particular (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123392039 and preceding and following]
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Vice President Biden Deliver Remarks at the Center For A New American Security Annual Conference
Published on Jun 20, 2016 by FOX 10 Phoenix
Vice President Biden Deliver Remarks at the Center For A New American Security Annual Conference, Washington, DC, June 20, 2016.
Center For A New American Security
http://conference.cnas.org/
https://www.youtube.com/user/CNASdc , http://www.youtube.com/user/CNASdc/videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_69yj5iHok [with comments] [audio-only at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOYGLvsvCfU (title taken/text adapted from; comments disabled)]
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Presidential Primaries
Democrats
2,383 delegates needed to win
Through the concluding District of Columbia primary of June 14, 2016:
Pledged Delegates:
Clinton 2,220
Sanders 1,831
Clinton lead 389
Superdelegates:
Clinton 591
Sanders 48
Clinton lead 543
Total Delegates:
Clinton 2,811
Sanders 1,879
Clinton lead 932
Additional Delegates Needed:
Clinton (428 over)
Sanders 504
[(drawn from) as currently at] http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2016/primaries [and for comparison, see e.g. the NBC delegate tracker at http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/ and the CNN delegate estimate page at http://edition.cnn.com/election/ ]
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Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
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