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bountyofbeads · 5 years ago

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Mueller Rejects Trump’s ‘Witch Hunt’ Label and Warns of Russian Meddling

https://nyti.ms/2YiERaF

"There is one incontrovertible truth about the Mueller Report. It establishes, together with the FBI and CIA investigations, that your President was elected, in part, by Russia. That, together with the fact that three million more Americans preferred his opponent, will forever taint this President. His legitimacy is, and should always be, a massive question mark."

JOHN DAVID JAMES, CANADA 🍁

"Has anyone reported on why Senator MCConnell refuses to allow any legislation that would safeguard the 2020 election to even come up for a vote?" JOANNA SMITH, SANTA FE, NM

"Robert Mueller is an old-style, patrician Republican who devoted much of his life to serving the interests of the United States. People such as him have been driven out of today's Republican Party. But what he did was impart damaging information about this President and his actions. There was obstruction and there was no exoneration. Perhaps more significant, he elicited responses from Republican Members of Congress that highlighted how the Republican Party has devolved into a Trump Cult that cares little about truth, integrity or foreign attacks on our Democracy." PAT CHOATE, TUSCON AZ

"Mueller did not say Russia would attack our election again, he said they were attacking us "as we speak." Meanwhile, Democrats have already passed the Election Security Act and have sent it to the Senate, which would help states defend their election systems from attack and require a paper ballot back-up. But McConnell refuses take it up in the Senate. The outcome of the 2020 election hinges on battleground states like Michigan, Ohio and Florida, which Russia targeted last time (with help from the Trump campaign). It appears that McConnell does not care to prevent Russian hacking in these states, perhaps because he knows they will help Trump win." SHERRY, WASHINGTON

"My takeaway from today’s hearings is that impeachment can wait. Trump is not going to be convicted by the Senate. Democrats should focus on defeating him at the ballot box. Mueller and everyone else in this country knows that the Russians will be back to to help Trump win again. That is why Mitch McConnell, the traitor of the Senate, one of many Republicans who put party over patriotism, is refusing to allow a bipartisan bill to shore up and protect our election machinery. No paper trails will tell us if the count in closely contested states or any other state is accurate. Should the results be close , particularly if the Democrat loses, who but Republicans will believe it. Democrats should start demanding this bill be passed. Mitch has gotten away with enough obstruction. Put the pressure on him every day. That includes during his month vacation in August." MARY BETH, MA

"Several GOP panelists derided the Mueller investigation as prolonged and costly. Cost of Mueller investigation? ... through seizures of ill-begotten assets (eg Manafort forfeitures), it has more than paid for itself! Contrast the GOP Benghazi investigation on Clinton that went on for 4 years! ... with no indictments and no counts ... none (and no asset seizures)! Mueller’s investigation wasn't even 2 years, and already with 37 indictments and 199 counts and several in trump’s inner circle charged and in prison with more imminent." JOHN TOWNSEND, MEXICO

"In much the same way Trump demeaned, denigrated a former First Lady and Secretary of State; today the Republican Party did the same to another public servant. No 74 year old, War Veteran, public servant deserved to be spoken to the way Mueller was by the Republicans who questioned him. But then again, we saw with McCain how much this administration respects veterans. Never wandering far from the low moral bar their POTUS has set, Republicans today once more demonstrated how much they respect what were once established values."

DENISE, NM

"Today, it was reiterated that the sitting US President, Donald Trump, is guilty of the "high crimes and misdemeanors" of colluding with the Russians to attain the US Presidency in 2016, and of committing and continuing to commit the obstruction of justice in covering up his collusion. What we also learned today is that the rump GOP that remains, after all this Trump carnage, of what used to be the proud party of Lincoln, is willing to lie, to shill and to defend this narcissistic Russian owned clown to their bitter end. Sad. Humiliating. Depressing." JOE MIKSIS, SAN FRANCISCO

"That Special Counsel Robert Mueller III made a very grave statement about Russian tampering in the 2016 election for President and Vice President of the United States should be a very loud, resounding alarm to every citizen of this country demanding the assurance from every Board of Election in each state that their vote casting system is tamper-proof. And if there is not a very vocal public outcry to demand free and safe elections in this country, we are sunk as a democracy. There is no democracy of one person - one (tamper-proof) vote in the United States if we have Russian or any other outside interference. And yes, I continue to believe Donald Trump's tax returns will see a direct link between Russian interference - in many forms - vote tampering, money schemes, loans, and potentially blackmail that will bring this house of cards down. I think Trump knows this and continues his daily and relentless twittering directed toward whomever is disturbing his house of cards at the moment . All of his twittering behavior is simply to distract from the truth - which will be found in his taxes. And finally, Special Counsel Mueller, in his 11 minute televised address two weeks ago stated:, "if we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so." Another shocking statement that should be sounding very loud alarms. That statement is yet another reason to issue court orders to subpoena Trump’s taxes." KKM, NYC

"Some of the media coverage of Mueller’s testimony today bothers me as a person who appreciates the American Constitution. The idea that the testimony was ineffective is ludicrous. The house majority did an excellent job of refuting Trump’s claim that there was “no collusion”. They also did an excellent job of meticulously outlining the actions that constituted that collusion. When Republican representatives pushed Mueller on making a political statement with his report, he pushed back vehemently. The American people who watched this testimony now have the truth as opposed to the spin that came from the White House. Hopefully citizens who love this country will uphold our democracy in the next election and today’s testimony gives us all some truths to take to the ballot box as we make our individual decisions." RMWARD, CONNECTICUT

"This is the best account I've read about what I witnessed on the live stream today. The one thing that no news articles have mentioned — I am not seeing hard core critique of the questions that were asked and statements made. The Republicans have so intimidated news media by attacking everything as "partisan" and "political" that the media posit a false equivalency between what one party does versus another, so as to refer to the parties equally. Thus there is not one word spoken about the odiously misleading and false statements and questions by the Republicans, oftentimes loaded with conspiracy theories. It is a disgrace that legislators feed these accusations to the public, and the press says nothing. Nunes telling Mueller to his face that the investigation was a hoax??? These guys are out front with Trump feeding delusions to the public. Many media are making the big news that Mueller seemed indecisive or shaky in his answers, all the while this public disgrace of Republican accusations that are completely disconnected from reality parades before the cameras and goes unmentioned — or else portrayed as equal to the serious and studential questions and comments of the Democrats. There are dangers headed towards U.S. democracy like a freight train. Please do more to wake everyone up to the dangers of claims that flagrantly violate known facts."

ANNE SHERROD

"The fact is, there is no law to say you can't indict a sitting president, neither is there anything in the constitution to that effect. It is simply a DOJ opinion that has been passed down over the years. It is not a high bar to expect that your president has not committed a crime. The simple answer: render the president accountable to criminal justice just as every American is."

YesIKnowTheMuffinMan, NEW HOPE PA

"If Russia can do it to Clinton, China will do it to Trump (and I expect they will). The GOP are unbelievably naive. China is much more experienced and skilled."

CHARACTER COUNTS, USA

"Putin is grinning ear to ear." CINDY, SAN DIEGO CA

"The best we can do is gather a great Democratic Party strategy, pick a candidate that can stand up to trump and beat him solidly in the 2020 election. Muellers report should provide plenty of reasons why trump and his cronies must go. The Democratic Party must insure that the Russians or any foreign country does not hack our election again." DR B, BERKLEY, CA

"Most questions were long winded, hard to follow and self served, aimed to impress the electorate base and embarrass Mueller. Republicans in particular excelled in irrelevancy, ranging form brash accusations to white noise generators. To his credit, Mueller chose not to play along and stayed within the scope of even the least cohesive question. Posterity will remember, hopefully, Mueller for his uncompromising and professional stance, focus on the job and carelessness for his public image. Picture him side by side with the president, and try to take in the difference." MIROCAL, SEATTLE WA

"They’re doing it as we sit here,” Facebook knows more about you than your parents. And they package that knowledge as a target for the highest bidder. As a Target. You and I are Targets. Cambridge Analytica leveraged those Targets to help Trump win. The Russian Government leveraged those Targets to help Trump win. Dear regulators, as a part of the Facebook settlement, how about banning Targeted political ads? Sure, the Supreme Court has ruled, in Burson v Freeman, that blackout periods for political ads are unconstitutional. But, it says nothing about Targeted ads. When I'm shown an ad for or against a candidate, I want to see what everybody else sees. I want to see everybody's response to that ad. Is it fake? Is it fair? One of the worse policies for political speech was the removal of the fairness doctrine -- where broadcasters were required to give free time to opposing views. Well, at the very least, it should be a requirement that ads for public office are truly public. Not some kind of guided missive keyed to my private data. Regulators, are you listening?"

IKO, HERE

"I believed Mueller. I wouldn't believe Trump if my life depended on it. Indeed, I would depend on this fact: Trump will always lie. He THINKS his lies are a "force of nature." I suppose we will found out just how strong they are. Because they are now exposed. Anyone who believes them now has no more excuses. Whoever believes Trump belongs to Trump. They are bought and paid for." PAUL GLASSON, GA

"I am frankly beyond being disgusted with these shameful Republican congresspeople. While they may believe the best defense is a good offense, and are aggressively trying to steamroll and invalidate a legitimate investigative process, I am not buying what they are selling. No amount of money or power could make me behave in such a despicable fashion, and the fact that they seem to be immune from self loathing for their behavior indicates what type of people they are to their cores. They dishonor this country."

GMR, ATLANTA

Mueller Rejects Trump’s ‘Witch Hunt’ Label and Warns of Russian Meddling

By Mark Mazzetti | Published July 24, 2019 | New York Times | Posted July 24, 2019 |

WASHINGTON — Robert S. Mueller III on Wednesday publicly rejected President Trump’s criticism that the special counsel’s investigation was a “witch hunt” and defended his conclusions about the sweeping Russian interference campaign in 2016, warning that Moscow will again try to sabotage American democracy.

The partisan war over his inquiry reached a heated climax during hours of long-awaited testimony by Mr. Mueller before two congressional committees. Lawmakers hunted for viral sound bites and tried to score political points, but Mr. Mueller refused to engage on those fronts, returning over and over in sometimes halting delivery to his damning and voluminous report.

Mr. Mueller remained a spectral presence in Washington over the past two years as the president and his allies subjected the special counsel and his team of lawyers to withering attacks. Speaking in detail for the first time about his conclusions produced occasionally dramatic moments where he ventured beyond his report to offer insights about Mr. Trump’s behavior.

When asked whether Mr. Trump “wasn’t always being truthful” in his written answers to the special counsel’s questions, Mr. Mueller responded, “I would say generally.” He called Mr. Trump’s praise of WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign “problematic” and said it “gave a boost to what is and should be illegal activity.” He said that he and his team chose not to subpoena Mr. Trump out of concern that a battle over a presidential interview might needlessly prolong the investigation.

Democratic lawmakers had hoped that Mr. Mueller’s nationally televised testimony would provide a dramatic culmination to a yearslong saga: the special counsel translating the dense jargon of his report into a bleak portrait of the Russian interference operation and the president’s behavior since winning the election. The testimony would, in their minds, make the report both more authoritative and more vivid for Americans who had skipped reading it.

Some television pundits built up the drama by comparing Mr. Mueller’s appearance to some of the most galvanizing moments of the Watergate era.

For the most part, Mr. Mueller did not play along. He gave clipped answers to lengthy questions, and forced lawmakers to give their own dramatic readings of parts of his report rather than reciting the conclusions himself. He sometimes gave a forceful defense of his investigation and his team in the face of the Republican fusillade, but his answers were at times faltering. Throughout, he was careful to avoid straying from his report’s conclusions.

Mr. Trump has spent months characterizing the special counsel’s report as a “total exoneration,” though Mr. Mueller was careful on Wednesday to state that he and his team had drawn no such conclusion. The special counsel’s 448-page report, released in April, laid bare that Mr. Trump was elected with the help of a foreign power, and on Wednesday, Mr. Mueller was most impassioned when describing the contours of the Russian interference playbook.

“They’re doing it as we sit here,” he said of Russia’s tampering in American elections.

Looming over the hearing was the question of whether Mr. Mueller’s testimony might shift the ground in Congress and propel more lawmakers to push for Mr. Trump’s impeachment. Only one new call emerged for impeachment hearings by late afternoon Wednesday, from Representative Lori Trahan, Democrat of Massachusetts, and lawmakers will soon depart Washington for a summer recess. It was too soon to say whether the spectacle would change Americans’ opinions about Mr. Mueller and his work that have only hardened over time, and whether Democrats would return to their districts and encounter more vigorous calls for Mr. Trump’s removal.

The questioning on Wednesday reflected a bitter philosophical divide, both on the committees and in the country as a whole: whether it was Mr. Trump, or those investigating him, who committed crimes. Throughout the day, the Democrats hit the high points from Mr. Mueller’s report: the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, the efforts by Mr. Trump to fire Mr. Mueller, the discussions between Michael T. Flynn and a Russian ambassador about Obama-era sanctions, the strategy by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to sow chaos before the election.

The Mueller report cataloged numerous meetings between Mr. Trump’s advisers and Russians seeking to influence the campaign and the presidential transition team — encounters set up in pursuit of business deals, policy initiatives and political dirt about Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump’s 2016 Democratic opponent.

Mr. Mueller concluded that there was “insufficient evidence” to determine that the president or his aides had engaged in a criminal conspiracy with the Russians, even though the Trump campaign welcomed the Kremlin sabotage effort and “expected it would benefit electorally” from the hackings and leaks of Democratic emails.

On Wednesday, Mr. Mueller was asked about the Trump Tower meeting, WikiLeaks and the decision by Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, to share campaign information with a Russian oligarch, and whether these episodes were a new normal for political campaigns.

“I hope this is not the new normal,” Mr. Mueller said, “but I fear it is.”

Republicans tried to flip the lens, peppering Mr. Mueller with questions about what they have long argued, with little evidence: that the F.B.I. opened a politically motivated investigation in 2016 with the aim of preventing Mr. Trump from becoming president. They focused on the research firm that commissioned the dossier by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer. They focused on Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese academic identified by the special counsel as linked to Russian intelligence, and advanced unsubstantiated claims that Mr. Mifsud was actually under the sway of Western spy services.

Mr. Mueller mostly deflected those questions, saying the origins of the F.B.I. investigation predated his time as special counsel and was outside his purview.

Mr. Mueller was a reluctant witness and had tried to avoid the spectacle of a congressional hearing. In a brief public statement in May, he urged the public — and, by extension, members of Congress — to read his report, which he said “speaks for itself.” “The report is my testimony,” he said.

House Democrats were unmoved and chose to take the aggressive step of compelling Mr. Mueller’s testimony under subpoena.

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hillaryisaboss · 7 years ago

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I hope Hillary includes these key points in her book "What Happened": Hillary Rodman Clinton already made it to the White House twice with her husband, President William Jefferson Clinton. The Clintons don't have anything left to prove. The Clintons left us a surplus and a booming economy (23 million new jobs, 7 million fewer living in poverty, minimum wage up 20%). President Bill Clinton balanced the budget 4-times because he was a great negotiator and a true pragmatist. These days, both the far-left and the far-right hate pragmatists. During the '90s, Hillary helped create the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP -- 8.9 million children insured) and was instrumental in all of Bill’s policy decisions. Many said Hillary was the one who ran the White House during the prosperous 1990s. The Clintons will always be political icons and legends. Two-time winners that won the popular vote for a 3rd straight time. Thanks for leaving our country in such great shape! The 1990s were great. Wish we could have continued our progress with Vice President Al Gore. Unfortunately, in America, we usually switch parties every 8 years no matter what. But just think where we would be on global warming if Vice President Al Gore had won after President Bill Clinton. Sadly, I guess progressives always love screwing us after two-terms of a Democrat -- cue Ralph Nader and Bernie Sanders (spoilers). Obama is lucky he didn't face a far-left opponent, which would have diminished his support among millennials -- a core part of the Democratic coalition missing in 2016. It's as if we don't understand the word "pragmatism" after we've had a Democrat in the White House for 8 years. Remember: Hillary had the most progressive platform of all-time. She would have built on President Obama's progress. Just like Gore would have done in 2000 after Clinton. When will progressives remember history? "Those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it." ~George Santayana Y'all could have voted for the most progressive platform of all time -- a platform Hillary worked on directly with Bernie Sanders. Yet many of you ultimately voted for Donald Trump. Sexism? Oh and nothing Hillary did with her e-mail server was illegal. Republicans have been manufacturing fake Clinton scandals for decades, even creating a small cottage industry for "Clinton Hate" ($$$). That is why so many Americans chanted "Lock Her Up" at Trump rallies. They have bought into decades of Clinton smears. It’s a clever tactic. Yet Hillary was triumphant and destroyed the false Benghazi witch-hunt during her brilliant 11-hour testimony. No one puts on a show better than a Clinton. Sorry Trump. '90s Bill was awesome. In addition -- the Clinton Foundation provides HIV/AIDS medicine to 11.5 million people, none of the “pay-to-play” accusations has ever been proven (it’s all speculation), and the Uranium Deal is correlated with donations to the Clinton Foundation but not proven to be the causation of the donations. Correlation doesn't equal causation. Again – pay-to-play has never been proven (unlike the Trump Foundation which is, in-fact, guilty of pay-to play in the state of Florida). Meanwhile, the Clinton Foundation has a higher charity rating than the Red Cross. So let us never forget: the Clinton Foundation provides 11.5 million people with HIV/AIDS medication. That amounts to supporting half of all adults and 75% of all children affected by the virus worldwide. Also -- none of Hillary's e-mails were correctly marked as classified at the time they were sent and none were directly sent by Hillary herself (that’s why the FBI ultimately dropped the case). The few e-mails that were classified didn't have the proper markings and were only found in long e-mail chains, never sent by Hillary herself. Having a private server was a mistake, though not illegal. Remember -- it was originally set up for President Clinton. It was never sinisterly set up after Hillary got the job as Secretary of State. It was a pre-existing server that has been proven to be safer than the already hacked government servers. Remember -- Hillary's server was set up for a former President. Talk about a mountain being made out of a mole hill. Ultimately, though, Hillary still beat Trump by 3 million votes and beat Bernie by 4 million votes. 7 million more total votes for Hillary Rodham Clinton. The last two Republican Presidents lost the popular vote – Bush and Trump. Democrats are the majority. Have been since 1992, especially if you consider voter suppression of minorities in red states. Trump was right, however – the electoral college *IS* a rigged system. Republicans can never win both the electoral college *AND* the popular vote. On the contrary, President Bill Clinton and President Obama won both the popular vote *AND* the electoral college. Did I mention Bernie lost the popular vote by 4 million votes? The DNC "corruption" charges don't change the fact that Bernie lost the popular vote by 4 million. 4 million! Maybe his support of the NRA hurt him at the polls? Also -- Bernie half-heartedly campaigned for Hillary and by that point, his most ardent supporters thought Hillary was vile scum. Nothing even Bernie said could change their minds. Some even called Bernie a "sell-out." Unfortunately, Bernie ran a horribly negative campaign towards the end and stayed in the primary for far too long. This delayed Hillary being able to morph into general election mode, and required Hillary to do a ton of repair work. I guess I'll never understand why Bernie supporters couldn't just vote for the platform -- for a chance to finally have two consecutive Democratic Administrations. Naive? Oh and can you imagine the field day Fox News would have had with Socialist Sanders, his rape essay's, and the fact he wanted to raise taxes on everyone to pay for moochers to go to college? Middle America never would have gone for that, either. Interestingly, the Clintons pay a higher tax-rate than Bernie -- 35.% vs. 13%. Who truly is the corrupt one? Plus -- Bernie couldn't show us how he was going to pay for any of his plans (as Bill used to say -- we need some "arithmetic!"). Oh and good luck getting a GOP Congress to pass his Socialist budget. A real revolution is 60 Democratic votes in Congress. But Bernie spends all his time demonizing us and our party. Who let him in...? Yet despite Bernie-mania demonizing Hillary for playing the game and winning (Nader 2.0), suffering highly personal attacks from Trump (bringing Bill's accusers to the 2nd debate -- though Bill has never faced a conviction/affairs are different than rape), blatant sexism from everyone (even subconscious), fake Benghazi and e-mail “scandals,” the racist Obama backlash ("deplorables" -- Hillary was right!), the trend of one party only staying in power for a max of two-terms (8 years), Brexit (making Trump a very strong candidate contrary to popular brief -- exploiting racism/propaganda/nationalism), the media claiming a false equivalence between Hillary's negatives and Trump's negatives for ratings, and Russia targeting Middle America with “fake news,” Hillary was *STILL* riding high in the polling after her 3 debate dominations. Then... Comey re-opened the Clinton e-mail case right at the very last minute. I remember looking at the photo of Hillary receiving the news on her plane. I thought -- is this the moment Hillary lost the election? It was. So I guess I don't understand why people don't just come out and say the 2016 election was stolen from Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton. Are people afraid to? Because I'm not. Ironically, the official reason Trump gave for firing James Comey was his malpractice in regards to the Clinton e-mail case -- the very thing that won Trump the election. The re-opening of the e-mail case came after the Trump Access Hollywood tape, switching the headlines from negative Trump headlines to negative Clinton headlines. The re-opening of the e-mail case caused many voters that were inclined to vote for Hillary to just stay home on Election Day. It depressed Hillary's turnout. So did the fact that everyone thought Hillary was going to win. Many assumed Hillary would win and therefore didn’t vote. Were they totally wrong in their assumption? No. Why? Because Hillary won the popular vote by 3 million (and no, it wasn't because of illegals voting, you right-wing conspiracy theory nuts). Despite literally *EVERYTHING* thrown at her, Hillary was still polling high at the very end due to her 3 debate dominations. But Comey screwed her at the very last minute -- the ultimate "October Surprise." Oh and remember: Comey was already in the midst of the Trump-Russia investigation, but chose not to publicly comment on that investigation. Yet he publicly commented on the re-opening of the Clinton e-mail investigation? Double standard? Malpractice? Trump seems to think so based on the fact that he fired Comey over his handling of the Clinton e-mail case. However, Hillary truly is forever the "People's President" -- 3 million more total votes. Never forget: Trump deeply resents and hates that he lost the popular vote. It delegitimizes him. He's a big numbers guy. So always bring up his popular vote loss. It infuriates him. It also appears Hillary's themes of "Love Trumps Hate" and "Stronger Together" actually made for a brilliant strategy that received more total votes. By the millions. I don't buy the argument that her political framing was off. In fact -- I think her slogans were right-on the money. Perfect in an election facing a propaganda artist and ultimate con-man like Donald J. Trump. A man who relied on hate, fear, division, scapegoating, nationalism, and propaganda to win the electoral college (ie: Middle America). Furthermore, Hillary was the first person to correctly point out Trump's reckless temperament, something we are currently suffering from right now in regards to North Korea. "A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons." ~Hillary Rodham Clinton Unfit. Unqualified. I also loved the fact that Hillary called out his dog-whistling to racists. She was the first high-profile person to do so in no uncertain terms. Trump not only loves the support of white racists, he emboldens them. Maybe that's why he was sued by the Justice Department in the 1970s for housing discrimination against African American. He's a racist. Sadly, everything Hillary predicted and warned us about Trump is coming to fruition. Is it still "too negative" for you if everything Hillary said about Trump comes true within his first 6 months? Though I still fundamentally believe that "Love Trumps Hate" and that we are, in-fact, "Stronger Together." I think those slogans are why people felt so awful on Election Day -- *HATE* won based on an outdated election system. Oh and the fact that lots of people that should have voted stayed home. Guilt is a very powerful emotion (Bernie-Bro's, I'm looking at you!) Get rid of the electoral college. It has cost us 2 elections in 20 years. Gore received 500,000 more votes than Bush. Hillary received 3 million more votes than Trump. (Oh, and it would have come down to more than just Michigan and Wisconsin -- another state would still be needed) Hillary also doesn't get the credit she rightfully deserves: Youngest lawyer ever appointed to an impeachment trial -- 27-year-old Yale Law graduate Hillary Rodham. Watergate. Children's Defense Fund: Investigated African American juveniles being placed in South Carolina adult prisons, and posed as a racist housewife to expose segregation throughout schools in the South. First Lady of Arkansas: Hillary successfully reformed the entire K-12 Arkansas educational system, expanded healthcare for those in rural Arkansas, worked at the Arkansas Children's Hospital Legal Services, and co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. First female partner of the Rose Law Firm. The joke in Arkansas was that they "hired the wrong Clinton." First Lady of the United States: Hillary spearheaded the Adoption and Safe Families Act, the Foster Care Independence Act, Office on Violence Against Women, the Campaign Against Teenage Pregnancy (lowering abortion and teenage pregnancy rates), and the Children's Health Insurance Program -- providing 8.9 million low-income children with healthcare access. In 1994, Hillary proclaimed on the world stage in Beijing, China: "If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all." Two-time New York Senator: Hillary secured 20 billion in federal funds to rebuild downtown New York City after 9/11. She also secured healthcare for 9/11 First Responders and expanded access to care for the National Guard, Reservists, and their families. U.S. Secretary of State: Passed the first-ever U.N Resolution on gay rights (proclaiming "human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights" on the world stage) and made it so trans Americans could legally change their gender on their passport. Hillary also rebuilt relations with every nation after the disastrous Bush Administration, traveling to 112 countries -- more than any other Secretary of State. Our worldwide favorability rose 20% during Hillary's tenure. Her primary focus was on women's rights, bringing up issues such as forced abortion and maternal mortality rates. Hillary re-opened relations with Burma, enacted a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and killed Osama Bin Laden. She also was instrumental in putting together the Paris Climate Agreement, something Trump has since removed us from. Inspirational Hillary quotes: “I’m not going to mislead anybody. Politics is really hard. And it is harder for women. There’s a double standard, and you can’t complain about it. You just have to accept it, and be smart enough to navigate it. And you have to have a pretty tough skin. To paraphrase a favorite quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: If a woman wants to be in politics, she has to have the skin of a rhinoceros. So occasionally I’ll be sitting somewhere and I’ll be listening to someone perhaps not saying the kindest things about me. And I’ll look down at my hand and I’ll sort of pinch my skin to make sure it still has the requisite thickness I know Eleanor Roosevelt expects me to have.” ~Hillary Rodham Clinton "When you stumble, keep faith. And when you're knocked down, get right back up, and never listen to anyone who says you can't or shouldn't go on." ~Hillary Rodham Clinton "I really don't spend a lot of time worrying about what people think about me...I would be totally paralyzed. How could you get up in the morning if you worried about some poll or what somebody said about you? That's giving up power over your life to somebody else, and I don't intend to do that." ~Hillary Rodham Clinton "Every moment wasted looking back keeps us from moving forward. Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been." ~Hillary Rodham Clinton Never Forget: The Clintons are 2-time winners and 3-time popular vote victors. Thanks for the surplus! 3 million more votes! Love Trumps Hate! Stronger Together! Currently ordering 50 copies of Hillary's book, "What Happened." #imSTILLwithher

#Hillary Clinton #Bill Clinton #Bernie sanders #what happened #Donald trump

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ts17we · 5 years ago

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Audience Studies (3P18) Blog Post #1 – Week 5

In this final section of the blog, I’m going to discuss media ratings and target marketing chapter within Sullivan’s textbook “Media Audiences – Effects, Users, Institutions, and Power”. The first concept we are going to explore is segmentation and the different forms incorporated within it. Marketers and advertisers use segmentation to have a better understanding of the audiences that view their content. The three segmentation forms used in this chapter are segmenting based on demographics, psychographics, and lifestyle categories. The information is collected through the rating systems which then provides data for marketers to use to attract specific advertisements. The specific segments show the target audience and the characteristics that go along with it. An example of an audience experience in which I was segmented by marketers and advertisers was when I went to the Sport check. They segmented the entire store through different demographic traits. For example, they had a section; for boys and girls, men and women, tall and small. This is to create a better understanding and portfolio to who their target audience is or should switch be.

The next crucial concept in this week’s chapter is how the news shapes public opinion. The public agenda shapes the news and the content we see in it. This means that the news that gets released to society is telling a story and a certain perspective. They do this because they want to shape the societal norms, this is done through promoting certain content that will benefit the media companies. I have an experience in which my decision was made based on the public agenda. The audience experience that relates to this is when the Notre Dame church in Paris burned down. The media showed the devastating fire and provided a helpline where you can donate to help rebuild it. Within days a billion dollars was raised for the rebuild of the church. This came as a result of the public agenda and the need to fix the famous church. News media also plays a massive factor in opinion polling as people make some of their decisions on political issues from the content being produced and released. During an election there are two effects, those are bandwagon effects and underdog effects. Bandwagon effects are when a person views something that differs from their own opinion, the person then changes their views and take on the predominant opinion. An example of this would be if I saw that Trump was up in the polls and make that the choice I’m going to pick. This effect states that you will change to the majority opinion all the time. Underdog effects happen when someone sees a predominant opinion and then decide to take on the opposite opinion. An example of this is seeing Trump up in the polls and then decide to choose Bernie Saunders because an underdog always goes against the majority. This leads us to our discussion during the lecture where we understand the audience as agents and objects.

The main concept that was developed throughout the lecture is differentiating specific features about the public opinion for audiences as agents and for audiences as objects. To differentiate the two, I will provide the characteristics that belong to each side. An audience of agents have these specific characteristics: Doxa matters, Ideas, and information are “portable”, People can meet to share ideas, People can vote (democracy!). So, if a person carries these thoughts and mentality, they are seeing the public opinion through the audience as an agent’s perspective. An example of when I experienced an audience as agents were when I went to Justin Trudeau’s conference at Brock. While he was at brock, he shared his thoughts regarding the importance of climate change. Everyone met up in the school gym to share their ideas with the hopes of coming up with a solution. After the event, everyone took what they learned and shared it throughout social media, print media, and other forms to get the message across. The overall concept behind the audience as the agent is that the people have the right to be heard and can make a difference in society. Now we will analyze the characteristics of audiences as objects: Whose opinion? (is it still episteme?), Audience members as numbers, Agenda setting, Spiral of silence, the power of hired spammers and bots. These all work towards the common goal of having the public opinion of the audience to only be seen as data/numbers. An example of when I experienced this was during Donald Trump's campaign a couple of years ago where he would say and do whatever it would take the win the election, he saw every US citizen as another vote. During this time, he used spiral of silence to his advantage and tried picking on the Mexicans to gain support from people who saw them as minorities that didn’t belong in the US. This leads us into the weeks' journal article to relate to the chapter/lecture concepts.

In Karen Buzzard's article, she contextualizes the rise of the Nielsen company as an independent supplier of information that assesses the market performance. Stakeholders use the assessments to understand the market trends and whether or not their business is performing up to par. This is still a prevalent role in markets today, as businesses want to understand their position within the market and how to position their products better towards their customers.

In the seminar for this week, I am presenting the ideas behind the chapter, lecture, and reading. Even though I haven’t presented, while working on the presentation it has given me a broader and deeper understanding of the course material. I chose a discussion question from the end of the chapter, which has me analyze the stats of internet/television usage. Through looking at these charts it brings awareness of trends, errors that could be present in the sampling, and whether the public opinion of the audience is as an agent or object. The activity allowed me to personally see where these factors come from.

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investmart007 · 6 years ago

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. | Trump's candidate to face black mayor for Florida governor

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/32S0fS

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. | Trump's candidate to face black mayor for Florida governor

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s race for governor comes down to a conservative congressman backed by President Donald Trump and a once little-known liberal who hopes to become the state’s first black governor.

The race between U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who both defeated better known rivals in their primaries Tuesday, gives voters a stark contrast as both parties chose nominees from their fringes.

DeSantis came from behind with the help of Trump to beat Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who campaigned longer, raised more money and built the support of the party establishment. Gillum stunned a field of five that included former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, who was hoping to become the state’s first female governor and win the office once held by her father, Bob Graham.

Gillum spent the least of the major candidates and barely mounted a television campaign, but he won the hearts of groups that call themselves progressives and was given a late boost by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Gillum and DeSantis will compete for the office held by Rick Scott, who can’t run for re-election because of term limits and is instead challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Scott had an easy win in Tuesday’s GOP primary, and now he heads into an increasingly bitter — and expensive — showdown with Nelson that could play a decisive role in which party controls the Senate.

The governor’s race, in a state sure to be a battleground in the 2020 presidential election, will essentially be a referendum on Trump.

“We’re going to make clear to the rest of the world that the dark days that we’ve been under coming out of Washington, that the derision and the division that have been coming out of our White House, that right here in the state of Florida that we are going to remind this nation of what is truly the American way,” Gillum told his cheering supporters.

DeSantis came out fighting after his victory, criticizing Gillum as “way, way, way too liberal for the state of Florida.”

“That is not what Floridians want,” DeSantis told reporters. “I think it’s going to be a great contrast and we will make sure we take it to him.”

DeSantis based nearly his entire campaign around the president.

DeSantis entered the race a month after Trump’s December tweet that he would make “a GREAT governor.” Later Trump held a rally for him in Tampa. Suddenly, he was considered the favorite over Putnam, who seemingly spent his entire adult life building toward the run for governor.

DeSantis’ television ads were Trump-focused, including one where his toddler stacks bricks while DeSantis exclaims, “Build the wall!” Jo-Ann Walker, a supporter at DeSantis’ party in Orlando, expressed enthusiasm for the candidate.

“People are starting to wake up and realize what we need for America, and that is people who care and who have served and that want to make a better America where we work for it and it’s not just handed to us,” she said.

DeSantis, who turns 40 next month, is a former Navy lawyer who won his seat in 2012 running as a Washington outsider. He ran for Senate in 2016 but dropped out when Republican Sen. Marco Rubio shut down his presidential campaign and ran for re-election. Gillum relied on a grassroots campaign and the support of the left wing of the party.

“I think it’s what Florida’s been needing,” said supporter Lauren Durchslag, 34, of Orlando. “Everyone kept trying to vote for someone middle of the ground, someone who they thought would win. But I don’t think middle of the ground wins anymore. I think being a progressive and being on the right side of history is going to make a difference.”

In addition to Graham, Gillum beat former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, who poured $29 million of his personal wealth into the race and saturated the state with 30 different campaign ads. Also in the race was billionaire Jeff Greene, who spent about $38 million of his own money on the race. Orlando-area businessman Chris King finished last.

Gillum was a 23-year-old Florida A&M student when he became the youngest person elected to the Tallahassee City Commission in 2003. He was elected mayor in 2014.

Gillum did well in debates, often receiving the most applause, but the FBI is investigating Tallahassee city hall for corruption. Gillum has said he’s not a target.

The differences between the candidates are pronounced. DeSantis is pro-gun, and anti-tax; Gillum boasts about beating the National Rifle Association in a lawsuit and is calling for an increase in corporate taxes.

While he didn’t make race an issue, Gillum said during a recent interview that it would be “big” to be Florida’s first black governor.

“I have been really slow to try to think on it because it’s too big,” he said. “There will absolutely be a part of this that I can’t even put words to around what it might mean for my children and other people’s kids. Especially growing up for them in the age of Donald Trump.”

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON, Associated Press

#barely mounted #Bernie Sanders #brendan farrington #criticizing gillum #florida governor #gillum stunned #party establishment #President Donald Trump #television campaign #TodayNews #white house

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exfrenchdorsl4p0a1 · 8 years ago

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The Truth Isn't Trending Well With Democrats These Days: What Every Democrat Needs To Hear

I write this on the eve of the electoral college vote, which is tomorrow; I already know the results. I have known the results since November 9th at 2am. There will be no Hail Mary moment. Red states will not go blue. Your phone calls, letters, mass emails, and pleas have done nothing more than annoy the electors. All of that energy, the money spent on a recount, the false hope fed to us by our "progressive leadership", all it did was succeed in us taking our eye off of what really matters: fights that could actually still be won. The truth is: Donald Trump is our president. Please, my dear liberal friends: take a deep breath...and sit with that. Let it sink in. Cry your last tear, throw something, scream, and then save it for another day. We have four years of screaming and fights ahead...we need you to get back up and on your feet...now. I am officially turning the lights on and the music off at your pity party. Time to come home and organize. We as democrats have managed to point fingers at everyone but ourselves. The people closest to the campaign being the most arrogant. THIS is what scares me more than Trump. If we as a party, can not realistically understand that we lost, and look hard at where we lost this, then we are sure to just double down on the same failed strategy and lose again. Same old people, playing out of the same old dog eared playbook that Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, all used..and you know what that sounded like? The same words that the people have been hearing for the last fifty years. "apple pie" "freedom" "bald eagle" "hope" "a new tomorrow" same tired strategy, optics and words. Do you know how that registered in the minds of voters? They weren't quite sure where they had heard those same old phrases before, but they had, and they felt lied to, because we have been lied to so many times before by every politician. Everything Hillary did and said, felt "inauthentic" sounded like a "lie" even when it wasn't; because it was all out of the tired old playbook we had been manipulated with before. Trump threw the playbook out the window. He could have said "unicorns are crapping donuts out of the sky and it is the fault of Isis and the Muslims" and people would think, what the hell is this guy saying? I don't know, but he "sounds like a straight shooter to me". This guy "calls it like he sees it, whether I agree or not". AND THAT my friends, is how this election was won and lost. Messaging. We have pointed fingers everywhere: The FBI, the Russians, hackers, misogyny, racism, ignorance, the media, the electoral college, voter fraud, and today...we get a teeny bit closer to the truth: the scapegoat who is poor Huma Abadein, Hillary's closest advisor gets the blame du jour. Well, at least were getting warmer. The truth isn't trending well with Democrats these days, but here it is. We lost the election for two reasons: Hillary Clinton ran a terrible campaign. People didn't vote. Period. Misogyny didn't win. The FBI didn't win. The Russians didn't lose us the election. Racism didn't win. Voter fraud didn't win. Hubris lost. We were so sure of ourselves, high fiving each other because Trump was such a "moron", meanwhile her communications team was a complete disaster. I had voiced my opinion to many people working on her campaign, and they were blindly out of touch. They simply did not care to hear anyone's opinion, any fresh ideas, and they did it their way, sticking to the old playbook that had been handed down for the last hundred years. Never daring stray from the script. I'll give you just a couple of examples of where we epically dropped the ball on a gold mine. Before I start, this is NOT an "I told you so"..it is simply a way to see, and learn from our mistakes, which we MUST do--once you read this, I think you'll get it. When Hillary fainted on 9/11 at the memorial because she had pneumonia. The Trump campaign ran with that. They immediately attacked her health, said she didn't have stamina, that she was not well enough to be president, and that she lied to the American people by not disclosing her "mystery illness". Clinton's camp sat quietly, and then they sent out the big guns. Bill Clinton came on tv and I thought, well thank goodness...Bill's got this. Do you remember what his response to her fainting was? "Hillary has been working like a demon...she gets dehydrated" I almost screamed at the tv. Why not tell the truth, and turn this moment into pure gold? A lovely alternative might have sounded something like this: "Hillary has pneumonia. I had pneumonia when I was 6. It's like an intense flu. Not cancer. She will get well soon. We didn't feel the need to announce every headache or cold she gets to the media. It is not life threatening. Mrs. Clinton would not have missed standing with those families on such an important day for anything in the world. So, with a hundred and three degree fever, she got up, and got dressed; to show up for the American people, to show up for those families, and to go to work. And while we're on the topic, how about we discuss how she, like millions of other Americans do the same thing Hillary did--everyday. They get up sick, they get dressed, and they go to work. Because we don't have paid family leave, or sick days; and you know, we probably should." The end. Now, was that hard? It wasn't. The mistresses? Again, Trump paraded them, blamed her, I saw women on social media saying that she was "so nasty" to the women her husband had cheated on her with. They spun it so it was somehow Hillary's fault that she was cheated on! Genius. Why on earth, did this woman not stand up, especially during the debates, and say "You know what? Thank you for bringing that up. I've been married to Bill for over forty years. Not all of them were easy. Many women in this audience, and men have experienced tough times in marriages and some have experienced infidelity. It is painful. It is usually private. I chose to forgive my husband to keep my marriage and family together. While I respect women who leave, I chose to stay. I chose to honor my vows said before God and family, and do what was the most difficult thing I had ever done, forgive and rebuild. I stayed when things got rough because I made that commitment. And as your president, I promise to do the same for you. I will stay and fight to make us stronger when things get rough. And you know what? I'm glad that I did, because now my marriage is stronger than ever and my daughter is doing great and I am happy." Good Lord, she would have sent it over the fences. Instead, when the mistresses were brought up, she would give a smug smile, and lean into the podium, half perched on her seat, and not address it. It was inauthentic. It was smug. It didn't read well. And whoever came up with that zippy slogan "Love Trumps Hate" clearly didn't understand optics. When I turned on the DNC Convention, and saw an ocean of people holding signs with the name Trump on them...I thought, this guy must be home laughing right now. Why on earth did we shake signs in the air with this man's name on them? He couldn't pray for better press...all hand delivered by...us. An auditorium of Democrats, enthusiastically shaking Trump's name. Sure, the word "hate" was on there, but so was "love". Bad messaging. Terrible optics. These are just a few very simple ways that she could have done better. From pant suit flash mob videos that looked like Gap ads, to completely uninspiring television spots (with the exception of the Gold Star Khan family, which was the only powerful piece of media I had seen the campaign run) to mosaic mashups of celebrities all montaging the same tired old message. It all just flopped. Add to that an ineffective speaker, whose speeches were canned, rehearsed and stiff, and she was an easy target. If you think that they don't "sell us our presidents the same way they sell us our clothes and our cars", you are mistaken. Hillary should have been as exciting as Obama in 2008. Our first female president, and even I, a devoted liberal had to rev up my own engine to muster any level of enthusiasm for her. I knocked on doors in Pennsylvania. I made a short video urging people to vote for her. I helped raise money. I wrote favorable pieces about her. The saddest part is that I have met her in person...she is not only graceful and kind, she is affable and lovely, brilliant, generous, and open. That is what upsets me most. She has it in her, and she would have been a terrific president. It just didn't read and she was surrounded by weak people advising her. I sincerely hope that they no longer work in politics. The polls were not "off" the people taking them were. Leaving out a percentage of folks who weren't racists or misogynists, they just didn't want to vote for Hillary, and kept their mouths shut, because they didn't want to be ostracized or called names. All of it, was a disaster, and I have lost more liberal friends than conservative, because the one thing liberals can't do right now, is hear that they failed. We failed. But ultimately the buck stops at Hillary. She didn't even come out on the night of the election to address the people who had worked so hard for her at the Javitz Center. They were given false hope and sent home crying, then given the news by Donald Trump who said that she had called him. Need I say more? We were still "With Her"...but she was no longer with us. My views have made me terribly unpopular. But I'm not going to lie to you. You have been lied to enough lately. Democrats right now want to hear what a jerk and scumbag Trump is, how we got robbed, and how there's still a chance. They don't want to hear the truth. But until we make peace with the truth and channel that anger towards fighting the real fights ahead, they are going to finish us off. Ohio and North Carolina are showing us that already. We were so busy talking about who really won and by how many and how we actually weren't to blame; while they have been hard at work stealing more from us. Please focus, everyone. We have lost so much, but we ain't seen nothing yet. So, I urge you, after the electoral vote count is in...pull yourselves off the ground, clean yourself up, and start fighting like hell. Fight the real fights we have in front of us. The victim look isn't a good look on any of us, and I, for one, am not going to be any part of that. I will be the one fighting rough, going as low as they go, and punching harder...because I am not going to die, and I won't let you or this country die either.

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repwinpril9y0a1 · 8 years ago

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The Truth Isn't Trending Well With Democrats These Days: What Every Democrat Needs To Hear

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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