Hillary Clinton's Blood Money

Crouching Bernie, Hidden Hillary by Jaeil Cho
www.jaeilchoart.bigcartel.com

Hillary Clinton's Blood Money

by Cindy A. Matthews

In the first Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton asserted that Bernie Sanders wasn't tough enough on guns and claimed she was an "enemy" of the National Rifle Association (NRA). Sanders correctly replied that he'd received failing marks from the NRA and was no friend of theirs. Bernie Sanders was rated F by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun control voting record, while Hillary Clinton has flip-flopped on the topic of gun control as this video demonstrates:

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/33906-focus-hillary-clinton-should-apologize-to-bernie-sanders

After recent mass murder events in California, Georgia and Colorado, Senator Sanders spoke from Capitol Hill about these recent tragedies and gun safety legislation that should be passed. The following short video gives a good overview of his gun control proposals:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4564606/sanders-calls-common-sense-gun-safety-legislation
 
Bernie Sanders proposes ten ways to eliminate gun violence in America, including expanding background checks, renewing the assault weapons ban, closing the "terror gap" and insuring mental health treatment for those who need it when they need it. (To read more about his proposals, please click on this link or click on the "Bernie Sanders on Gun Control" page link listed on the sidebar.)

Mrs. Clinton has been fairly quiet since the latest shooting in San Bernardino. She issued the standard Twitter statement like most political candidates do, but she's not made any particular big fuss over the recent massacres or denounced the NRA and demanded more stringent gun control laws. Why is that? She claims she isn't a friend of the NRA--and they probably agree with her-- but could Hillary Clinton's silence indicate guilt over her family's foundation taking money from other countries and groups which have killed indiscriminately?

The following links and article quotes show a worrisome pattern of behavior. They indicate that the former secretary of state has readily accepted large sums of money from foreign powers and others with blood on their hands.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2015/04/29/report-clinton-foundation-failed-to-disclose-1100-foreign-donations-n1992042

…the Clinton Foundation failed to report tens of millions in foreign donations in their tax documents, a revelation that has forced the organization to re-file at least five years' worth of returns. … Some of those many undisclosed donations (which violated Hillary's transparency pledge) were related to a troubling transaction in which (a) the Russian government obtained the rights to a large chunk of US uranium interests, (b) investors and magnates connected to the deal profited handsomely, (c) the Clinton Foundation (and the Clinton themselves) pocketed millions, and (d) Hillary's State Department signed off on the whole thing -- before "repeatedly breaking" promises to mitigate national security concerns.

Particularly troublesome is that the Clinton Foundation--a charitable organization created by Hillary and Bill Clinton--isn't always forthcoming as to the names of their supporters.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/247336-report-clinton-foundation-keeping-trump-money

Trump states that Clinton Foundation not very open about who actually does give it money. Trump has also repeatedly criticized Clinton for the lack of public transparency on her charitable foundation’s dealings.

“If this was a Republican sitting right there, this would absolutely be considered illegal,” Trump said in April of the organization’s activities...

During Mrs. Clinton's time as secretary of state, several Middle Eastern countries with abysmal human rights records were very generous supporters to the Clinton Foundation--and rewarded in turn with lucrative arms deals.

http://hotair.com/archives/2015/06/04/wapo-say-those-qatari-donations-to-the-clinton-foundation-seem-suspect/

The Qataris denied the Guardian report, while the Clintons said that philanthropy shouldn’t sit in judgment on its benefactors. That’s probably what they hope voters will think about politics too, but the problem for the Clintons is that all of these corrupt relationships cross traditional liberal constituencies. It’s tough to be pro-LGBT if you’re enabling regimes that throw gays off of rooftops, and it’s tough to be pro-worker when you’re shaking hands with people who are killing them by the dozen to build sports stadiums as monuments to their rule.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/hillary-clinton-foundation-state-arms-deals

In the years before Hillary Clinton became secretary of state, Saudi Arabia had contributed $10 million to the Clinton Foundation, and just two months before the jet deal was finalized, Boeing donated $900,000 to the Clinton Foundation, according to an International Business Times investigation released Tuesday.

The Saudi transaction is just one example of nations and companies that had donated to the Clinton Foundation seeing an increase in arms deals while Hillary Clinton oversaw the State Department.

If you're hoping against hope that foreign governments and big corporations donating large sums to the Clinton Foundation can't possible influence Mrs. Clinton's decisions while  in office, this Washington Post article will put that hope to rest:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/foreign-governments-gave-millions-to-foundation-while-clinton-was-at-state-dept/2015/02/25/31937c1e-bc3f-11e4-8668-4e7ba8439ca6_story.html

The Washington Post reported last week that foreign sources, including governments, made up a third of those who have given the foundation more than $1 million over time. The Post found that the foundation, begun by former president Bill Clinton, has raised nearly $2 billion since its creation in 2001.

Foreign governments and individuals are prohibited from giving money to U.S. political candidates, to prevent outside influence over national leaders. But the foundation has given donors a way to potentially gain favor with the Clintons outside the traditional political limits.

Hillary Clinton also claims that she is an "enemy" of Big Pharma and the Health Insurance Industry, and yet health insurance and drug companies have been some of her biggest financial supporters. Who's to say her "enemy" the NRA and related gun lobbyists aren't donating to her campaign or to the Clinton Foundation as well? As previous article links demonstrate, the Clinton Foundation isn't always forthcoming about the name of their donors and their accounting practices.

http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/democratic-debate-2015-hillary-clintons-enemies-pharmaceutical-insurance

In 2008, Clinton was among the three biggest recipients of campaign cash from pharmaceutical-related companies, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics... The center reports that Clinton also raised more than $1.2 million from the insurance industry -- which includes health insurers.

On top of those campaign contributions, the Clintons and their family foundation have benefited from their ties to the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

In 2011, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) -- the primary trade association representing drug companies -- paid Bill Clinton $200,000 for a speech, as the organization was lobbying the Hillary Clinton-led State Department. Last year, the Drug Chemical and Associated Technologies Association, a trade group whose members include major pharmaceutical companies, paid her a $250,000 speaking fee.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/10/14/hillary-takes-millions-in-campaign-cash-from-enemies

Since her first bid for Senate in 2000, Clinton has accepted nearly $1 million from drug and health companies and more than $2.7 million from the insurance field and its related sectors, according to an analysis of public records from the Center for Responsive Politics. 

More recently, the Clinton Foundation has also benefited from these groups’ donations. Donors and grantors who have given between $1 million and $5 million include Pfizer, the Procter & Gamble Co., Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and Humana Inc.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/most-firms-that-gave-to-clinton-foundation-also-lobbied-state-department/article/2564553

A handful of the Fortune 100 corporations were missing lobbying disclosures from one or more years of Clinton's tenure, suggesting more may have lobbied the agency during that time. The Clinton Foundation did not return a request for comment.

How do we know the NRA or other gun lobbyists weren't among these corporations? We don't. We must take Hillary and Bill Clinton's word for it. We can trust them, right?  It's not like the Clintons have made millions from their foundation and their lobbying efforts, right? Oh, yes, they have... They have made millions. Hundreds of millions of dollars.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31474-hillary-clinton-s-wall-street-address

 ...While Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, her department “approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments have given money to the Clinton Foundation, according to an IBTimes analysis of State Department and foundation data…

Those nations include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar, each of which “gained State Department clearance to buy caches of American-made weapons even as the department singled them out for a range of alleged ills, from corruption to restrictions on civil liberties to violent crackdowns against political opponents.”

Further, American defense contractors like Boeing and Lockheed who sold those arms and their delivery systems also shelled out heavily to the $2 billion Clinton Foundation and the Clinton family. According to Sirota, “In all, governments and corporations involved in the arms deals approved by Clinton’s State Department have delivered between $54 million and $141 million to the Clinton Foundation as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to the Clinton family, according to foundation and State Department records. The Clinton Foundation publishes only a rough range of individual contributors’ donations, making a more precise accounting impossible.”
 

Is it any wonder Hillary Clinton never spoke out against Citizens United until after she'd received large sums of money for her Super PACs? The Clintons' support of Big Business over the best interests of ordinary Americans has been well documented. She may pretend to be a "progressive" and attempt to imitate Bernie Sanders' positions on the issues, but her actions prove otherwise. Further evidence of her pro-Big Business/pro-Wall Street agenda can be found in these articles:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/33869-hillary-clinton-s-ghosts-a-legacy-of-pushing-the-democratic-party-to-the-right

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/33875-clinton-super-pac-donor-is-former-goldman-exec-and-foreclosure-crisis-profiteer
 
How "progressive" of you, Mrs. Clinton!

 
So much money--so many lives lost or permanently harmed by wars in the Middle East and elsewhere. So much money--so many lives cut short because health care isn't a universal right in the US and pharmaceutical companies are free to charge astronomical prices. Remember Martin Shkreli's recent 5000% price hike of an AIDS drug? We'd likely see more of this abhorrent activity in a Hillary Clinton administration.

Donations for arms deals... Donations for legislation favoring the billionaires over the working poor... All this "blood money" has touched the hands of Bill and Hillary Clinton through their Clinton Foundation.

To quote Sen. Richard Lugar, a ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee while Hillary was secretary of state: “The Clinton Foundation exists as a temptation for any foreign entity or government that believes it could curry favor through a donation."  Sen. John Kerry, current secretary of state and the committee's chairman at the time, called Lugar's concerns over the Clinton Foundation a "legitimate question." (Read more at https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/foreign-governments-gave-millions-to-foundation-while-clinton-was-at-state-dept/2015/02/25/31937c1e-bc3f-11e4-8668-4e7ba8439ca6_story.html)

Hillary Clinton accuses Bernie Sanders of not being tough enough on gun control?  It's laughable when you consider how much money she's taken from cold-blooded killers.

Vote for a candidate you can trust to put ordinary Americans' health, safety--our very lives--before pleasing billionaires and instead of lining his own pockets with immoral multi-million dollar "donations" from foreign governments and Wall Street to a family-owned foundation with questionable accounting practices. Vote Bernie Sanders.


(Special thanks to Denise Silva, Scott Galindez and A.J. Matthews for providing links, video and memes.) 

Impossible Bootstraps

Capitalists are no more capable of self-sacrifice than a man is capable of lifting himself up by his own bootstraps. --Lenin

Impossible Bootstraps

by A. J. Matthews

The prolific 19th-century American author Horatio Alger Jr., perhaps more than anyone else, promulgated the idea of people "picking themselves up by their bootstraps" to achieve success in life.

His many juvenile novels were about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age. Source: Wikipedia.

The bootstraps motif has resonated with Americans ever since, embodying the ideals of self-reliance and hard work. It's no coincidence in this New Gilded Age that Republicans and other exponents of the American Dream would have us believe we can achieve anything without help or assistance from anyone.

Pick yourself up by your bootstraps? You keep using that phrase. I do not think it means what you think it means. 

In fact, it denotes the act of trying to perform an impossibility.

Pull yourself up by your bootstraps:

To succeed through hard work. Before zippers made getting into tall boots less of a chore, such footwear had leather attachments by which the wearer would pull them on. (Western boots and some English riding dress boots still have them.) Trying to raise yourself off the ground by pulling on your bootstraps sounds impossible . . . and it is (don't try it—you'll throw out your back). Therefore to pull yourself up by your bootstraps is to achieve your goals through as much hard work as levitating yourself would take. Source: The Free Dictionary http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bootstrap

Everyone who was and is truly successful has had help, and often plenty of it. Even Donald Trump, the doyen of capitalists the world over, took “a small loan” of $1 million from his father to start in the property development business. Ben Carson espouses self-reliance, but he and his family took plenty of aid from socialist-style programs as he grew up. In fact the rich use public roads, rely on public utilities, garbage collection, snow clearance, the police and fire service, all manner of things bought and paid for by the taxpayer – yet they decry socialist-style anything in favor of self-reliance.

As for hard work, people in this country are working two or three jobs and sometimes more in order to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table. They struggle to maintain a car (essential where there is no public transport) and to pay for their kids' college fees. All the while, they rely on services paid for by themselves and other taxpayers – and heaven help the average American if they have to pay medical bills outside of the Affordable Care Act. In fact, the quality of life for the average American has declined sharply over the past forty years. Yet the rich not only decry a minimum wage of $15 an hour, they would have us believe socialist-style anything is bad and should be taken away for our own good, let alone expanded.

The rich decry the idea of giving poor people any kind of payment, be it cash from Social Security or vouchers, to help them survive. The rich display a viciousness toward the poor that borders on the psychotic, and they encourage the middle class and other poor people to mimic their attitude. 

So, what does happen if you give the poor social help in the form of money? They spend it because they have no choice but to do so in order to survive. Oddly enough, in spite of what the Republicans and their ilk would have us believe, the poor do not immediately hit their local drug dealer for a fix. They spend it on ordinary things like food, rent/mortgages and all the other necessities in life. The money keeps in the economy and it circulates. Give money to the rich in the form of tax breaks and subsidies, and they send the money off for a nice vacation in the tax havens of the Cayman Islands, Switzerland or, more recently, the Republic of Ireland...

That's not to decry the value of hard work, but the work must be rewarded. No person should labor forty or more hours a week and still be living in poverty. 

 

Bio: A. J. Matthews is a multi-published novelist who sees great things happening with Bernie Sanders in the White House. He asks you to speak up and share your thoughts with your friends and family, as well as with The Bernie Blog.

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Bernie Sanders favors increasing the national minimum wage to $15 per hour. He favors expanding health coverage to everybody that wants it. He favors a massive program of improvements to the public infrastructure such as bridges and highways – many of which have become dangerously decrepit. Such programs will lead to millions of new jobs and an increased cash flow in the economy. People will be given the means to work and be supported by society when necessary.

Bernie Sanders supports free college tuition at public universities. How will this be paid for? By a small tax – and I mean small at .1% – on Wall Street trading, and there are other areas where the money can be found. BernieSanders doesn't want to begin yet another ruinous war in the Middle East which will see the sons and daughters of America sent to die or be maimed on some distant battlefield. The extortionate cost of these senseless wars will be curbed and eventually stopped, and the trillions of dollars which would otherwise be spent on more munitions and armaments will be used where it belongs – in America, for the American people.

#FeeltheBern and join the Political Revolution today!

Buster Chats with Readers About “Socialism”

We wish you all a happy and healthful Thanksgiving Day.

BUSTER CHATS WITH READERS ABOUT “SOCIALISM”

By Buster Brown Town

When I talk about the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, many readers love to quote Margaret Thatcher who said, “Socialists are happy until they run out of other people’s money.” Margaret, bless her silly heart, clearly misunderstood the concept of “taxation.” Government is in the business of Spending Other People’s Money. They’re gonna take your money no matter what. That’s a done deal. The question is how do you want them to spend your money? Right now, most of it goes to war machinery and subsidies and tax breaks for the rich and the corporations who have bought our Congress. Is that okay with you?

It kind of makes sense to me that we take some of that money and put it toward rebuilding our infrastructure, which will create a ton of private sector jobs, investing to make sure our kids are educated for the jobs of the future, and asking profitable businesses and corporations to stop expecting the taxpayers to pick up the tab for food stamps and medicaid because they are not willing to give their workers a living wage.

“Socialism” is just a word that scares you because there are people going out of their way to scare you. This ain’t Russia or Cuba or China or Nazi Germany or even Greece. This is America, and the basic things that Bernie is talking about are things we all had in the “glory days” of the 50s and 60s when America truly was exceptional. What’s wrong with that?

Buster Brown Town is a professor of odd human behavior at Dogville Academy. Buster blogs for Bernie, bites billionaires and will bark for food. His web sites:

www.busterbrowntown.com

https://www.facebook.com/buster.browntown?fref=ts

Professor Town is also the founder of Dogs for Humanity, a not-for-profit with the motto: “We may not be human, but we are humane.”  We asked Mr. Town to tell us why he’s supporting Bernie:

“That’s easy!  I’m a dog. We’re Man’s Best Friend. We don’t care if you’re rich or poor.  We don’t care if you’re white or black or brown or yellow or red; we don’t care if you’re straight or gay or male or female or young or old; we love you all. Also, we’re pack animals. We want everyone in our pack to do well because that’s how the pack survives. Bernie is the only candidate who thinks like a dog. We refer to him affectionately as Saint Bernard.”

Watch Bernie Sanders describe what he means by “democratic socialism” and find out what other U.S. presidents have been labeled as "socialist” in his talk to the students of Georgetown University. (Bernie's remarks begin about the 1:33 mark on the timeline.) Click on the You Tube video link below and feel the Bern! 

Bernie Sanders's New Deal Socialism is a very good article which also explains Bernie's position.