Politics
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Many young people don’t vote
because they never learned how. Here’s a free class now
in schools trying to change that.
How the Trigger Warning
Debate Exposes Our F*cked Up Views on Mental
Illness
Damning New Benghazi Report Clears
Clinton While Exposing Republican Lies
When Donald Trump's words scared
this Muslim girl, these Army vets responded
perfectly
The Brainwashing Of My Dad By
Fox, Rush Limbaugh & Hate Media
Christian Right Does Not Want You
To Know About This Day
Mitch McConnell gets honest
about why Congress won't do much in 2016
Three Republican candidates speak at
anti-gay pastor's rally
The Hijacking of the Term
“Religious Liberty” for Political
Gain
New Filings Show Koch Brothers Give
Millions To Anti-Gay, Anti-Choice Groups
Who Won the
Republican Presidential Debate?
Obama To Trump: 'Perhaps Ignorant
Racists Should Wear Special ID Badges Too'
Talking
Points
Koch Suckers
This is how Fox News creates ignorant
viewers
25 Numbers That Define Donald
Trump
25 Things to Know About Hillary
Clinton
24 Facts About Bernie Sanders and
His Presidential Campaign
Most vulnearble House membes in
2016
14:49 
The
Best of Ann Coulter
Many young people don’t vote
because they never learned how. Here’s a free class now
in schools trying to change that.
Consider this: In 2016, in 50 mayoral elections, the median
voter age was 57.
Yes, there’s something wrong with that, and with the
fact that young people don’t vote in big percentages in
any election. In fact, a 2016 study by the Pew Research
Center ranked the United States 31st out of 35 countries for
voter turnout — and it’s not only young people who
stay at home during elections. Only 56 percent of the U.S.
voting-age population cast ballots in the 2016 presidential
election, which was less than in the record year of
2008.
There is no single answer as to why this is so (people
don’t think their vote counts, or they don’t like
any of the candidates, etc.), but new efforts are being made
to teach young people why they should vote and how they can
register and cast ballots.
This post introduces a new, free class on voting for
anybody who wants to use it. This week, it was taught in
more than 2,000 schools as part of the week of Constitution
Day, which was created by Congress in 2004 to push all
schools that receive federal funding to offer some type of
“educational program” on the U.S. Constitution.
Sept. 17 was chosen because it was the last session of the
1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, during which
the final version of the newly written U.S. Constitution was
signed by 39 delegates.
This was written by Carolyn DeWitt, president and
executive director of Rock the Vote, a nonpartisan nonprofit
dedicated to building the political power of young people,
and Maureen Costello, director of Teaching Tolerance, a
project of the Southern Poverty Center, a nonprofit advocacy
organization specializing in civil rights and and public
interest litigation.
If there is one thing we believe in America, we believe
in government of the people, by the people, for the
people.
But what if the people don’t show up? What if they
don’t know how to show up because they haven’t
learned how to be democratic citizens? They haven’t
learned how to register to vote. They haven’t learned
the best way to influence their elected representatives.
They haven’t learned that they have power.
A healthy democracy needs well-informed, active citizens.
But these citizens don’t just magically appear. People
learn citizenship. They learn it, for example, as children
when they go the polling place to watch their parents vote.
They learn it advocating for an issue they care about with
their neighbors. They learn it by doing it.
For a long time, many Americans didn’t just learn
about citizenship from their families and friends, they also
learned how to be democratic citizens in public school. Not
anymore. In the last few decades, instead of expanding
civics education, we have cut it and cut it. Today, only
nine states require a full year of civics education. Ten
states don’t require it at all. In 31 states, students
only have to learn about our democracy for one semester.
That’s about three and a half months to learn about
something as important as our democracy.
The fault lies not with teachers, the principals, school
boards, the superintendents or the school districts. The
fault lies with those who sit at our state capitals and
those who elect them — the American electorate. As
testing for writing, reading, science and math have put
increasing pressure on schools already suffering from budget
cuts, teacher shortages, and dilapidated buildings, civics
education — once seen as the very reason for public
education — has been all but tossed out.
Thirty-six students per classroom in Nevada, schools
without adequate heat in Baltimore, teachers’ walkouts
and strikes in West Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina,
Arizona, Kentucky and Oklahoma: These are just some of the
issues students are dealing with in the classroom, not to
mention the issues that impact their home lives. Yet,
students haven’t been given the education to know that
they have the power to change all of this.
The results are predictable. A mere 25 percent of high
school students achieved a grade of sufficient on a national
civics assessment test. Black and Latino kids from
low-income households do significantly worse on the test
than their white, middle-class peers. In other words, those
who are most in need of advocating for resources are the
least prepared to do so.
This lack of education translates into a lack of
political engagement. With the exception of a few elections,
youth voter turnout has steadily declined over the last 30
years. In local elections, the lack of youth participation
is even more stark. In 2016 in 50 mayoral elections, the
median voter age was 57!
We are short-changing our students and short-changing the
future of our democracy. We need to do something about
it.
That is why we at Rock the Vote and Teaching Tolerance, a
project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, with the support
of American Eagle Outfitters, have launched Democracy Class,
a free, nonpartisan curriculum on the history and importance
of voting. Educators have the ability to extend the
curriculum to teach additional lessons on modern-day voting
rights, the importance of local elections, and a civics
action class on an issue affecting the local community.
But this class does more than just teach kids about
voting. Research has shown that when young people register
to vote, they vote in high numbers. That’s why every
student who participates in Democracy
Class registers or pre-registers to vote.
More than 80 organizations across the country and school
districts including Los Angeles and Philadelphia have
committed to having the curriculum taught in more than 2,000
schools across the country the week of Sept. 17, which began
on Monday with Constitution Day and is the week before
National Voter Registration Day.
With nearly 160,000 students registering or
pre-registering to vote, Democracy Class gives students and
educators a way to participate and prepare for the civic
holiday, but the class is available even after.
We’re committed to continuing this momentum and
getting Democracy Class into more and more classrooms. We
see this as the start of a broad movement to expand civics
education across the country and empower the next generation
of citizens to work together to create a more perfect
union.
Source: www.washingtonpost.com/education/2018/09/20/many-young-people-dont-vote-because-they-never-learned-how-heres-free-class-now-schools-trying-change-that/?utm_term=.8e3a0335c793
Damning New Benghazi Report
Clears Clinton While Exposing Republican Lies
For the past four years almost, we’ve been listening to
Republicans and right-wing pundits exploit the death of four
Americans in Benghazi, Libya. They’ve been trying with
all of their might to use the attack on an American
diplomatic compound as a means to throw former Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton under the bus, and make it as though
she is somehow solely to blame.
Well, now, in a report put out by the Democratic members
of the House Benghazi Committee, it is clearly shown that
not only is Clinton exonerated, but it also shows to what
length Republicans have seemingly lied to perpetuate the
myth that she is guilty, as well as their refusal to
cooperate with other House members.
Democrats tried to get Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) to work
with them on this report, but instead he responded by
mocking them, saying that their request was “mildly
amusing.”
They explained why they put the report together:
“We are issuing our own report today because, after
spending more than two years and $7 million in taxpayer
funds in one of the longest and most partisan congressional
investigations in history, it is long past time for the
Select Committee to conclude its work. Despite our repeated
requests over the last several months, Republicans have
refused to provide us with a draft of their report—or
even a basic outline—making it impossible for us to
provide input and obvious that we are being shut out of the
process until the last possible moment.
Our overarching conclusion is that the evidence obtained
by the Select Committee confirms the core findings already
issued by many previous investigations into the attacks in
Benghazi. Although the Select Committee obtained additional
details that provide context and granularity, these details
do not fundamentally alter the previous
conclusions.”
They then go on to debunk the many, many conspiracy
theories:
“Our report makes 21 findings based on the evidence
we obtained, and it debunks many conspiracy theories about
the attacks. In general, the report finds:
The Defense Department could not have done anything
differently on the night of the attacks that would have
saved the lives of the four brave Americans killed in
Benghazi, and although the military’s global posture
prevented it from responding more quickly that night,
improvements were made years ago.
The State Department’s security measures in Benghazi
were woefully inadequate as a result of decisions made by
officials in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, but
Secretary Clinton never personally denied any requests for
additional security in Benghazi.
The Intelligence Community’s assessments evolved
after the attacks as more information became available, but
they were not influenced by political considerations.
Administration officials did not make intentionally
misleading statements about the attacks, but instead relied
on information they were provided at the time under
fast-moving circumstances.”
Also stating:
“There are some findings this report does not make.
For example, an offensive, antiMuslim video sparked protests
and anti-American violence in Cairo and throughout the
region, but it remains unclear to this day precisely what
motivated all of the individuals in Benghazi on the night of
the attacks.”
With remarks from former Director of the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), General David Petraeus, backing
that up.
The report then dives into the fact that Republicans were
basically on a witch hunt the entire time, and didn’t
want Democrats sticking their nose anywhere near the
investigation.
“Republicans excluded Democrats from interviews,
concealed exculpatory evidence, withheld interview
transcripts, leaked inaccurate information, issued
unilateral subpoenas, sent armed Marshals to the home of a
cooperative witness, and even conducted political
fundraising by exploiting the deaths of four Americans.
In one of the most serious abuses, Chairman Gowdy
personally and publicly accused Secretary Clinton of
compromising a highly classified intelligence source.
Although the Intelligence Community quickly debunked his
claim, Chairman Gowdy has yet to apologize to Secretary
Clinton for his slanderous accusation.
In our opinion, Chairman Gowdy has been conducting this
investigation like an overzealous prosecutor desperately
trying to land a front-page conviction rather than a neutral
judge of facts seeking to improve the security of our
diplomatic corps.
Decades in the future, historians will look back on this
investigation as a case study in how not to conduct a
credible investigation. They will showcase the proliferation
of Republican abuses as a chief example of what happens when
politicians are allowed to use unlimited taxpayer
dollars—and the formidable power of Congress—to
attack their political foes.”
Which is really all these countless investigations have
been.
However, because Democrats seem to be the only adults in
the room, and seek to move forward to make sure an attack
like this never happens again, they made 12 recommendations
within the report — which include three recommendations
on how Congress should pick future committees. The
recommendations begin on page 318 of the report.
The entire report is utterly infuriating, but absolutely
damning against Republicans in their quest to destroy
Hillary Clinton. They’ve used millions of tax-payer
dollars to go after a presidential candidate instead of
moving forward to really figure out how to prevent an attack
like this from ever happening again. Time and time again it
has been found that Clinton was not to blame, but time and
time again Republicans have tried their damnedest to condemn
her. Well, no longer, and this report should put all
conspiracy to rest.
(If the Republicants couldn't use
lies they wouldn't have anything to tlk about.)
If you’d like to read the report in full, you can
find it HERE.
(344 pages)
Source: newcenturytimes.com/2016/06/27/just-in-damning-new-benghazi-report-clears-clinton-while-exposing-republican-lies/
When Donald Trump's words
scared this Muslim girl, these Army vets responded
perfectly.
When Melissa Chance Yassini came home from work on Dec. 8,
she found her daughter Sofia in tears.
Sofia had been watching the news with her grandmother,
when she heard about Donald Trump's call to deport refugees
and ban Muslims from entering America.
"She ran to me with a look of absolute fear on her face,"
Melissa told Upworthy.
Sofia, who is 8 years old, was convinced that Trump
wanted to kick her and her family, who are Muslim — and
American citizens — out of the country.
"It was the first time that it really drove home to me
that we’re in a dangerous place right now," Melissa
said.
Melissa stayed up most of the night comforting and
reassuring her daughter. Exhausted and frustrated, she
posted about the experience on Facebook the next
day.
Sad day in America when I have to comfort my 8
year old child who heard that someone with yellow hair
named Trump wanted to kick all Muslims out of America.
She had began collecting all her favorite things in a bag
in case the army came to remove us from our homes. She
checked the locks on the door 3-4 times. This is
terrorism. No child in America deserves to feel that way.
The post caught the eye of Kerri Peek, an Army veteran
from Colorado, who responded to Melissa a few days
later.
"Salamalakum Melissa!" Peek wrote on Facebook.
"Please show this picture of me to your daughter. Tell
her I am a Mama too and as a soldier I will protect her
from the bad guys."
Peek — who is Hispanic — told Upworthy that her
heart broke reading Melissa's post, which reminded her of
similar statements that have made her own family feel
unwelcome.
"It bothered me all night. Stuck in my craw, so
to speak," Peek said. "This rhetoric and fear, hate, and
violence is not okay. It's not the United States that I
would fight for. I was awake all night."
Peek started a hashtag — #IWillProtectYou —
and encouraged her fellow vets to respond. The messages of
support began pouring in.
"Calling all vets. I've been reading reports of
kids being harassed and accosted because of their faith.
This is UNAMERICAN. Now is the time to act," veteran
Andres Herrera wrote on Facebook.
"Let Muslim children know that we will not hurt them.
That they are safe here in America. That we will protect
innocents as we always have and by added benefit keeping
our oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution," Herrera
added.
"I am not Muslim," veteran David Bruce wrote on
Facebook, "But when anyone says the Army that I served with
will go on to remove Muslims from my country, they'll have
to take me too."
"Sweet girl, I am no longer in the Navy, but know you
are protected," veteran Sarah Cullen wrote.
"?#?IWillProtectYou? to the moon and back if necessary. Many
hugs sent your way."
"We are Muslim, an Army family, and we will protect
you," Aneesah Hydar wrote on Facebook.
As the responses continue to come in, Peek remains
blown away — but not surprised — by her fellow
vets' willingness to stand up to bigotry.
"I have always been proud of my Battle Buddies
(we are all comrades-at-arms)," Peek said. "But this is
outstanding."
Melissa told Upworthy she is incredibly moved by the
show of support for her daughter.
"I have probably received close to 500 messages
from various people in our military, from just people,"
Melissa said.
"Christians, atheists, Jews, every walk of life, every
stage, have reached out to Sofia and I with overwhelming
support and love."
Most importantly, Sofia now knows there’s an army
of her fellow Americans who have her back.
Peek's message came through loud and clear: No matter
what Donald Trump says that makes Muslim-Americans feel
unsafe and unwanted, there are men and women in America's
armed forces who won't stand for it.
"I read each and every message to her," Melissa
said. "And she now understands that we’re all part
of a fabric which is America."
Source: www.upworthy.com/when-donald-trumps-words-scared-this-muslim-girl-these-army-vets-responded-perfectly?c=upw1&u=07fa0e7f2d23f338b4a3b29d16b2a71a4c4e496b
The Brainwashing Of My Dad By
Fox, Rush Limbaugh & Hate Media
Many of us understand the damage that has been done by the
likes of Rush Limbaugh, FOX News, and Hate Media. You can
hear the promotion of blatant racism, homophobia, misogyny
and bigotry just by turning on the tv, radio or computer.
Malicious lies are perpetuated until they are believed by
those who have been sucked in and who now use right-wing
media as their only source of 'news'. Jen Senko is a
filmmaker who watched the transformation of her father as he
slowly came to believe the extreme right-wing propaganda.
Senko is now making a documentary about it called The
Brainwashing Of My Dad. Above is the trailer, and here is a
personal note Jen sent me:
"I was inspired to make this film after watching
my father – a non-political Democrat – turn
into a right-wing fanatic after a change in his car
commute exposed him to reactionary shows on talk radio.
The changes in his behavior drove me to research the
changes in the media over the last 30 years – and
the effect of those changes on the country was
indisputable. As the media have been co-opted more and
more by special interests, documentarians have become the
new journalists. My hope is that after seeing my film,
people will question what the media tells them, and will
insist on laws that would hold them accountable."
More about The Brainwashing of My Dad: The truth behind
the right-wing media machine that changed a father —
and the nation:
When the filmmaker's parents moved to a place
where her father had a long solo commute to work and
started listening to talk radio to alleviate the boredom,
her family saw him change from a non-political Democrat
to a radicalized, angry right-wing Republican. This
begged the question: What happened to Dad? As filmmaker,
Jen Senko, tries to understand the transformation of her
father, she uncovers the forces behind the media that
changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under Nixon
for a media by the GOP, The Powell Memo and the
dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine, all of which would
ultimately misinform millions, divide families and even
the country itself. Remember when Hillary Clinton got
pilloried for blaming a “vast right-wing
conspiracy” for the relentless attacks against her
husband? Maybe you weren’t around then. Well, she
said it. Some thought she’d gone off the deep-end.
We all know that “conspiracies” mean that you
think that we really didn’t land a man on the moon,
or that Bigfoot stalks the North, or aliens abduct
certain people and experiment on them. But really, was
Hillary right? If you think about it, the country has
changed dramatically within the last 30 years. During the
1960s and 70s America was moving in a much more socially
minded direction. One could say, “liberal”.
Then, slowly the country began to shift. What was once
considered “right” is now
“center-left”. It can’t be denied that
corporations play an ever-increasing role in every facet
of our government and the media has been instrumental in
this development. We are now so divided that the Left
will argue that President Obama is to the right of Reagan
while the Right labels him a “Socialist”. How
did that happen? This documentary will look at the
changes that happened to a dad (and many others’
dads or beloved relative) when he changed his media
habits. Then we look at how the media itself changed and
the effect it had on our country. The media has a
powerful influence on the American mind – so much so
that one could argue: if you control the Media, you
control the American Mind.
Here are some media commentaries by a few of the
extraordinary minds they have interviewed so far:
Noam
Chomsky 1:10
Johnny
E. Williams 1:03
Edward
S. Herman 1:06
Note from Jen:
We want you to join us in our endeavor to get
the truth out there! Many thanks. We love you!"
Thank you, Jen Senko. We love you too. Special thanks to
Freya Malin. Besides supporting Jen Senko's documentary,
another ways to get involved in the fight against hate radio
include joining the StopRush movement via:
Source: www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/3/2/1277976/-The-Brainwashing-Of-My-Dad-By-Limbaugh-Fox-Hate-Media-Documentary-Update?detail=emailclassic
The Christian Right Does Not
Want You To Know About This Day -
In the heat of our political moment, we sometimes don’t
see how our future connects deeply to our past. But the
Christian Right does — and they do not like what they
see.
The Christian Right has made religious freedom the
ideological phalanx of its current campaigns in the culture
wars. Religious freedom is now invoked as a way of seeking
to derail access to reproductive health services as well as
equality for LGBTQ people, most prominently regarding
marriage equality.
But history provides little comfort for the theocratic
visions of the Christian Right. And that is where our story
begins.
For all of the shouting about religious liberty —
from the landmark Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case, to the
passage of the anti-gay Religious Freedom Restoration Act in
Mississippi, and more — there is barely any mention,
let alone any observance, of the official national Religious
Freedom Day, enacted by Congress in 1992 and recognized
every January 16 by an annual presidential proclamation.
The day commemorates the enactment of the Virginia
Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786.
Why is this seemingly obscure piece of Revolutionary-era
legislation so vital? And why doesn’t the Christian
Right want you to know anything about it?
The bill, authored by Thomas Jefferson and later pushed
through the state legislature by then member of the House of
Delegates, James Madison, is regarded as the root of how the
framers of the Constitution approached matters of religion
and government, and it was as revolutionary as the era in
which it was written.
It not only disestablished the Anglican Church as the
official state church, but it provided that no one can be
compelled to attend any religious institution or to
underwrite it with taxes; that individuals are free to
believe as they will and that this “shall in no wise
diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil
capacities.”
As a practical matter, this meant that what we believe or
don’t believe is not the concern of government and that
we are all equal as citizens.
Following the dramatic passage of the Statute in 1786,
Madison traveled to Philadelphia, where he served as a
principal author of the Constitution in 1787. As a Member of
Congress in 1789 he was also a principal author of the First
Amendment, which passed in 1791.
Jefferson was well aware that many did not like the
Statute, just as they did not like the Constitution and the
First Amendment, both of which sought to expand the rights
of citizens and deflect claims of churches seeking special
consideration.
So before his death, Jefferson sought to get the last
word on what it meant. The Statute, he wrote, contained
“within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the
Gentile, the Christian and Mohametan, the Hindoo and Infidel
of every denomination.”
That is a powerful and clear statement. Jefferson, almost
200 years ago, refuted the contemporary claims of Christian
Right leaders, many of whom not only insist that America was
founded as a Christian nation, but that the framers really
meant their particular interpretation of Christianity. (And
they are sometimes encouraged by a surprisingly wide array
of pundits.)
Jefferson further explained that the legislature had
specifically rejected proposed language that would have
described “Jesus Christ” as “the holy author
of our religion.” This was rejected, he reported,
“by the great majority.”
No wonder the Christian Right does not want us to
remember the original Statute for Religious Freedom —
it doesn’t fit their narrative of history! Nor does it
justify their vision of the struggles of the political
present, or the shining theocratic future they envision.
Religious Freedom Day is nothing but bad news for the
likes of Religious Right leaders like Tony Perkins, who
argue that Christians who favor marriage equality are not
really Christians. They can believe that if they want, but
it can make no difference in the eyes of the law. That is
probably why on Religious Freedom Day 2014, Perkins made no
mention of what Religious Freedom Day is really about —
instead using the occasion to denounce president
Obama’s approach to religious liberty abroad.
This barely commemorated day provides an opportunity for
LGBTQ people, and progressives generally, to reclaim a
philosophical, legal and constitutional legacy that the
Christian Right is busy trying to redefine for their own
purposes.
Alright. So the Christian Right really does not want us
to know about this day, but if we do, they certainly don't
want us thinking about this stuff -- and so the standard
fare of faux outrage about president Obama and various
conspiracies against faith in general and conservative
Christianity in general is likely to dominate our
foreseeable future.
But it doesn't have to be this way. And the Christian
Right probably knows it.
When I say that the Christian Right does not want
“us” to think about it, I mean everyone who is not
the Christian Right and their allies, and especially not
LGBTQ people and the otherwise “insufficiently
Christian.” I think that is why the Christian Right is
mostly so eerily quiet about it, even though religious
freedom is so central to their political program.
But what if we did?
What if we seized this day to think dynamically about the
religious freedoms we take for granted at our peril; freedom
that is in danger of being redefined beyond recognition.
What if we decided to seize this day to consider our best
values as a nation and advance the cause of equal rights for
all?
If we did, we might begin by recalling the extraordinary
challenge faced by the framers of the Constitution when they
gathered in Philadelphia. They met to create one nation out
of 13 fractious colonies still finding their way after a
successful revolt against the British Empire; and contending
with a number of powerful and well-established state
churches and a growing and religiously diverse
population.
Their answer? Religious equality. And it is rooted in
Jefferson’s bill. Let's remind ourselves about the
origins of the bill.
Jefferson wrote the first draft in 1777 — just after
having authored the Declaration of Independence in 1776. And
it was James Madison who finally got the legislation passed
through the Virginia legislature in 1786, just months before
he traveled to Philadelphia to be a principal author of the
Constitution. The Virginia Statute states that no one can be
compelled to attend or support any religious institution, or
otherwise be restrained in their beliefs, and that this
“shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their
civil capacities . . .”
The Constitution, framed according to “The Virginia
Plan,” drafted primarily by Madison, contains no
mention of God or Christianity. In fact, the final
text’s only mention of religion is in the proscription
of “religious tests for public office,” found in
Article 6.
In other words — Jefferson’s words —
one’s religious identity, or lack thereof, has no
bearing on one’s “civil capacities.”
If we thought about the meaning of Religious Freedom Day,
we might start thinking about things like that — and
not capitulate to the Christian Right’s effort to
redefine religious freedom to include a license for business
and institutional leaders (both government and civil) to
impose their religious beliefs on employees and the
public.
If we thought about things like that, then we might
consider them in light of a host of initiatives in recent
years, often advanced under the banner of religious freedom,
but which, in fact, restrict the religious freedom of
others.
We might consider, for example, the recent federal court
decisionin the case of General Synod of the United Church of
Christ v. Cooper, which found that North Carolina’s ban
on clergy performing marriage ceremonies without first
obtaining a civil marriage license, was
unconstitutional.
Since state law declared that same-sex couples could not
get marriage licenses, this subjected clergy in the United
Church of Christ, the Alliance of Baptists, and the Central
Conference of American Rabbis, among others, to potential
prosecution for performing a religious ceremony.
As religious equality advances, so does equal rights for
all. So you can see why the Christian Right might not want
people—people like us—thinking like Jefferson. And
that is why we must.
Religious Freedom Day was the brainchild of some of the
town fathers and mothers of Richmond, Virginia, who have
since created a museum dedicated to education about the
Virginia Statute (PDF).
But we need more than a museum to breathe more life and
liberty into the living Constitution. Not much goes on
around the country on Religious Freedom Day, January
16th.
There is no time like the present to seize this day.
This post is adapted from two recent columns at LGBTQ
Nation, and is crossposted from Talk to Action.
UPDATE There has been some understandable
confusion about one important point. I have written
elsewhere that the web site ReligiousFreedomDay.com, which
comes up first in a Google search for Religious Freedom Day
is not what it seems. The group behind it is a small
California evangelical Christian Right agency called
Gateways to Better Education, headed by longtime activist,
Eric Buehrer. This group is part of a wider movement with a
long history of efforts to hijack, or compromise, public
schools in order to promote its religious views and to
evangelize children. (This is detailed in The Good News
Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on
America’s Children, by Katherine Stewart.)
Gateways is unambiguous about its intentions:
“Gateways to Better Education is a nonprofit
organization founded in 1991 to help public schools teach
about the important contribution the Bible and Christianity
make to the world.” They insist that “Religious
Freedom Day is not ‘celebrate-our-diversity
day.'”
Source: dailykos.com/stories/2014/12/27/1354381/-The-Christian-Right-Does-Not-Want-You-To-Know-About-This-Day?detail=emailclassic
Mitch McConnell gets
honest about why Congress won't do much in 2016
Don’t expect much from Congress in 2016. Don’t
take it from me. Take it from the Republicans who control
what Congress does: Don’t expect much. They
have their reasons:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) says he
wants to continue finding agreements where he can, but he is
making clear the chamber’s agenda will be driven partly
by his members’ political needs.
“What we decide to allocate floor time to in the
Senate, to be quite candid with you, is going to be to some
extent…dictated by concerns I have about places like
New Hampshire and Pennsylvania and Ohio and Wisconsin and
Illinois,” Mr. McConnell said in an interview Thursday,
referring to states with competitive Senate races.
At least he’s honest. Not that we can expect most
reporters to remember this quote when McConnell and the
Senate Republicans bring up nakedly partisan bills intended
to boost the chances of those Republican senators facing
tough races, or when talking about why Congress is so
useless.
Of course, if you were expecting a lot from Congress in
2016, I have some bad news about Santa Claus and the Tooth
Fairy.
Source: www.dailykos.com/story/2015/12/21/1462441/-Mitch-McConnell-gets-honest-about-why-Congress-won-t-do-much-in-2023?detail=email
Editor: Leader of the Senate
vows to offer an eighth year of inaction on job development,
infrastructure improvements. Image what will happen if the
Republicans take control of the presidency too. Alllow
massive cuts on taxes for the wealthy, putting an end to
many over-site sections of government which have protected
people's health and safety will be turned over to private
corporation to determine what is safe and what is not.
Historic examples - cigarettes, DDT, ____, increasing
arsenic levels in drinking water, raped underaged girl will
be forced to have and raise the rapists child with little or
no assistance from the government and very little if any
support from the religious community that encouraged the
law.
Reasons:
After productivity and compromise on some key issues in
2015, Republican leaders in Congress are sending a message
about next year: Don’t expect us to replicate it.
Lawmakers this year agreed to a $1.15 trillion bill to
fund the government through September and reached major,
unexpected deals with the White House on education,
highways, trade and a bundle of other issues.
But they are already setting lower goals so they can
spend more tax payer money on their election campaigns.
Three Republican candidates speak at
anti-gay pastor's rally
Rachel Maddow shows that while Democrats were
participating in a candidates forum, Republicans Mike
Huckabee, Bobby Jindal and Ted Cruz were guests at
"religious freedom" event led by a pastor who preaches that
homosexuality should be punished with death.
Source: www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/anti-gay-pastor-event-hosts-3-gop-candidates-563178051820
The
Hijacking of the Term “Religious Liberty” for
Political Gain
Law BooksWords matter. The phrase of the moment is
“religious liberty.” The headlines are filled with
the politicization of the term, which has stretched well
beyond its constitutional meaning. Conservative Christians
demand it (whatever it is) so that they do not have to mix
with LGBT individuals or remotely endorse—or be
perceived as endorsing—same-sex marriage. The ACLU is
saying it is for making sure sex predators can go to church
but not for companies to restrict contraception. The Church
of Cannabis says it is for illegal drugs. The Little Sisters
of the Poor say it is for not having to say what they
believe in writing when the result is that the government
accommodates their beliefs.
We did not talk about religious liberty like this until
1993, when the statutory religious liberty regime descended
on America with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Before that, the First Amendment’s religious liberty
meant that the government could not tell you what to
believe; or tell a church how to organize itself; or try to
run the Santerians out of town by passing a law that applied
only to them. In addition, it was never a license to violate
laws that undermine complex governing systems, like the tax
system or for courts to act as experts on the military, or
know-it-alls on prison regulations. It meant that Adell
Sherbert could not be denied unemployment compensation for
going to church when other employees could take time off
without such a penalty, but that drug counselors could not
use illegal drugs, even if in a religious ceremony, where
that was a requirement for their jobs. Neither could a man
take multiple wives even if for religious purposes, nor a
religious organization order the government how to handle
its own land.
Constitutional Religious Liberty
Each of these Supreme Court rulings was drawn from the
sensible balance that the founding generation built into the
first state constitutions, which created a right to
religious liberty so long as it did not violate peace and
safety, while at the same time forbidding licentiousness in
the name of religion. They fundamentally understood the
necessity of liberty and the need to place limits on it.
What do we call a country with too much “religious
liberty”? A tyranny of establishment, say like Iran or
the traveling country that is ISIS. Or if you prefer a
Western example, there was too much “religious
liberty” at the Tower of London and in the Salem witch
trials. The Supreme Court’s First Amendment
jurisprudence reflected this crucial balance between liberty
and license.
But the First Amendment rulings are also much more,
because constitution-based religious liberty is situated in
the larger Constitution. For example, when the federal
courts interpret the First Amendment’s Free Exercise
Clause, they must also take into account the separation of
powers, which has meant that in the First Amendment
religious liberty cases, judges exhibited a healthy humility
for their role vis-à-vis legislatures and the
executive. That explains some of the wisest decisions, like
the Court’s rejection of a right of soldiers to
determine their headgear by faith in Goldman v. Weinberger,
but also Congress’s subsequent willingness to then
expand opportunities for religious headgear. Under the
Constitution, federal judges must, if they can, also avoid a
constitutional ruling that would invalidate a law—out
of respect for their fellow branches. Courts are part of a
system of checks and balances, and mutual respect is
demanded when constitutional rights are at stake.
Statutory Religious Liberty
That is not so when Congress makes up religious liberty
as it did with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993
and then again in 2000. With statutory religious liberty,
the built-in limitations on judicial activism in the
Constitution melt away. RFRA instructs courts to throw
caution to the wind and re-draft the legislation at issue to
create a cozy cocoon around a single believer, with no
reference to the institutional competence of a court to do
so, and no concern for those who will be harmed when the
believer breaks out of the cocoon to do whatever his or her
beliefs demand.
Statutory religious liberty has led to the effective
overruling of constitutional religious liberty decisions:
believers have the right to carve out their own exemptions
from complex national schemes, like national healthcare, and
courts are now experts on military headgear, and
know-it-alls on prison security.
In short, the term “religious liberty” has been
bastardized. It simply does not mean the same thing in the
constitutional and statutory contexts. It should come as no
surprise that when Congress spawned religious liberty, it
was a political tool, politically motivated, and sure to
invite political discord without reference to constitutional
principles that would otherwise wrap religious liberty into
our republican form of government. When religious liberty
became political tinder, it was debased and divorced from a
balance between liberty and licentiousness and transformed
into a ticket for courts to be super legislators and the
believer to do whatever the believer wants. In other words,
constitutional religious liberty requires consideration of
all elements of the polity; statutory religious liberty is a
prescription for self-aggrandizement whether judge or
believer.
Thus, there is constitutional religious liberty that was
in place until 1990 and which yielded remarkable peace and
responsibility between believers and their society. And
there is the statutory religious liberty post-1990 that
tells believers to run over any law contrary to their
belief.
Journalists Need to Be More Precise Even If Politicians
Will Not Be
One cannot expect politicians to play fair with such
intoxicating verbiage. “Ahh—my fellow Americans, I
will give you religious liberty!!!”
Yet, journalists (including bloggers) have an obligation
to the public to be accurate. “Religious liberty”
is now an opaque term—often used to mislead as much as
to illuminate. Compound terms are now needed for accuracy.
There is “constitutional religious liberty” and
there is “statutory religious liberty.” And,
editors, please do not falsify the terms by insisting on
what the lowest common denominator will understand. It is
your job to educate as well as to report. So enough of
letting candidates and public relations spinmeisters for the
religious organizations spout “religious liberty”
as the all-good that is a central part of our constitutional
heritage. More often than not today, politicians are
extolling statutory religious liberty but acting like it is
constitutionally required and worthy of the reverence we
should have for the First Amendment. For example, Scott
Walker states: “Americans deserve a President who will
fight and win for them. Someone who will stand up for the
right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Someone
who will stand up for our religious rights and all of our
other Constitutional rights.” This is political bait
and switch with the term “religious liberty.”
Tell it like it is: statutory religious liberty is all
about political one-upmanship and gaining an advantage over
policy via one’s beliefs. Constitutional religious
liberty is about the sane and peaceful operation of a
gloriously diverse representative democracy where believers,
yes, even believers, have obligations to not harm others. To
summarize, statutory religious liberty is not and never has
been constitutional religious liberty.
Source: verdict.justia.com/2015/08/06/the-hijacking-of-the-term-religious-liberty-for-political-gain
New Filings
Show Koch Brothers Give Millions To Anti-Gay, Anti-Choice
Groups
Over the past year, petrochemical billionaire brothers
Charles and David Koch have gone to great pains to change
their public image and sell themselves as social moderates
who “don’t want the federal government in your
pocketbook” or “in your bedroom.”
But IRS filings released on Tuesday by Freedom Partners,
the Kochs’ secretive tax-exempt organization that
serves as the ATM for their anti-government activism, show
they also continued to help distribute millions of dollars
to anti-choice and anti-gay organizations in 2014.
Last December, ABC’s Barbara Walters interviewed
David Koch and noted that he was “not well-liked,
primarily because of [his] very conservative
politics.” She asked him why a supporter of LGBT
equality and abortion rights supports social conservatives.
Koch, not disputing her characterization of his own public
standing, responded, “Well that’s their problem. I
do have those views… I want these candidates to support
a balanced budget. I’m very worried that if the budget
is not balanced, inflation could occur and the economy of
our country could suffer terribly.”
Earlier this year, Politico Magazine suggested Charles
Koch night now be labeled a “liberal crusader,”
based on his work on criminal justice reform, including a
partnership with the Center for American Progress
(ThinkProgress is an editorially independent news site
associated within CAP). After he and his wife hosted
MSNBC’s Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough at a
closed-to-the-public GOP candidate forum, the former
Republican Congressman raved that the Kochs were mainstream
social moderates with little patience for those who want
“huge bloody battles on social issues.”
On its own website, Freedom Partners reprints a USA Today
article that identifies the 501(c)(6) organization
(curiously registered under the section of the tax code for
chambers of commerce and similar groups) as “the center
of the Koch’s expansive operation.” Politico
called it the Koch Brothers’ “secret bank,”
though as the group does not disclose its donors, it is
unclear how much of its hundreds of millions came from the
Kochs themselves.
Where did the money go? In addition to going to an array
of other Koch network groups like Americans for Prosperity
($16 million), Generation Opportunity (more than $14
million), and the Libre Initiative ($6.5 million), a good
chunk of it went to the very anti-LGBT and anti-abortion
groups from which the duo has sought to disassociate
themselves.
Freedom Partners gave $5,745,000 to Evangchr4 Trust, a
Koch-tied Evangelical Christian pastoral outreach
organization that itself gave more than $1.3 million in 2013
to Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink and $375,000 to
the anti-LGBT hate group Family Research Council Action.
The group also gave $885,000 for advocacy and another
$125,000 for general support directly to CitizenLink —
which describes itself as “deeply concerned about the
hearts and souls of those who identify themselves as gay,
lesbian, bisexual or ‘transgendered.'” It also
sent $225,000 to Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion and
anti-contraception organization, and $150,000 to Heritage
Action for America.
Freedom Partners reported giving $0 to socially
progressive organizations in 2014.
Source: thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/11/18/3723273/koch-brothers-still-not-social-liberals/
Obama To Trump: 'Perhaps Ignorant
Racists Should Wear Special ID Badges Too'
After winning two elections - with the two highest vote
totals in American history - and after dealing with almost
eight years of racist insults, mindless obstruction,
reckless brinksmanship and brain dead republibaggerservative
conspiracy theories, President Obama is quite apparently
fresh out of phucks to give. I generally find this to be
quite refreshing.
Assuming that the tweeted message is indeed genuine and
not merely something that we WISH the President would say, I
say "Kudos Mr. President for your candor, but I would rather
we let him win the nomination before we blast him with that
which has already become so obvious.
Source: chiwillie.newsvine.com/_news/2015/11/22/34708177-obama-to-trump-perhaps-ignorant-racists-should-wear-special-id-badges-too
Editor's note: The media should
identify the religion of all school and abortion clinic
shooters and repeat it in every up-date they make. Let's
identify and recognize the fundamentalist terrorists we have
that were born right here in the U.S.A. of generally white,
Christian parents. - Gordon Clay
This
is how Fox News creates ignorant viewers
We often get upset at Fox News viewers for the alternate
state of reality they generally live in. We shouldn’t
be. It is our civic duty to first understand how it is
possible for them to see the world so differently than those
who accept information from various sources.
The video below is a classic example of how Fox News
encourages one to allow themselves to be willfully ignorant.
This is not restricted to conservative right-wing people,
but to us all. To be clear, many Americans do very little
reading of consequence and get most of their information
from the mainstream broadcast media or the right-wing
broadcast media like Fox News.
If many get their information from broadcast media, it is
evident that the reliability or truthfulness of said media
will determine their beliefs and to some extent their
thought process. The mainstream and right-wing media are
both very poor at providing thoughtful information one can
use deliberately to come to sensible conclusions. There is,
however, a difference. While the mainstream media is shallow
and sometimes allows others to spread misinformation by fiat
through their channels, Fox News simply lies in order keep
their viewers ignorant.
In the video above, Geraldo Rivera makes the case that
inasmuch as the leaders from around the world are concerned
with climate change, the immediate concern for many European
leaders is security. Steve Doocy calmly, artfully, and
assertively states the lie that temperatures on the planet
have either stabilized or have gone down. He then states
climate change is not one of the biggest concerns for
Americans.
Geraldo challenged the lie by pointing out that 2015 has
been the hottest year and that nine out of the last 10 years
have been the hottest. Doocy attempts to argue and Geraldo
then says he simply would not argue the pojnt.
Those acclimated to Fox News are likely to accept
Doocy’s numbers. Sadly, near the end of the segment
Brian Kilmeade came in and stated again that polls indicate
Americans are unconcerned with climate change. He then said
even England is pulling out of activities to mitigate
climate change. Kilmeade then says he hopes the president
does not come back from the climate summit and attempt to
force an executive order on climate change down
Americans’ throat.
The segment inevitably did what it needed to do. It made
the Fox News viewer comfortable that climate change is not
really occurring. Temperatures have stabilized, and even our
ally England, another country like ours, does not see
climate change as a problem. When the president signs any
executive order, Fox News viewers will be predisposed to
oppose based on artful lies.
Source: www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/30/1455437/-This-is-how-Fox-News-create-ignorant-viewers?detail=email
25 Numbers
That Define Donald Trump
Let's face it: you already know all the basic info about
Donald Trump. He's a business magnate worth billions. He's
the star of NBC's "The Apprentice." And yes, he's running
for president.
So let's put the simple facts aside and get to the good
stuff — the details most people don't know. At
InsideGov, we scoured past Trump interviews, business
records and campaign finance data from the Federal Election
Commission to pull out 25 facts sure to turn heads, raise
eyebrows and drop jaws.
We love data, so we've stuck to raw numbers: every fact
on this list is expressed in the form of a numeral. We also
ordered the stats from least (0) to greatest ($8.7 billion)
because, well, we're geeks.
0 Alcoholic Drinks
Despite his lavish lifestyle, The Donald has never had an
alcoholic drink, a decision influenced in part by his
brother's (eventually fatal) battle with alcoholism.
3 Spouses
Mr. Trump has had three wives, more than any other 2016
candidate. These women include Ivana (Czech-American athlete
and fashion model), Marla Maples (television actress) and
current spouse, Melania (jewelry designer and former
model).
4 Casinos Gone Bankrupt
Trump has seen four casinos go bankrupt, a fact that
debate moderators love to bring up. Nevertheless, Trump has
emerged largely unscathed, thanks in part to tax and
bankruptcy loopholes.
6 Feet, 2 Inches
Donald Trump's height, according to most celebrity
magazines.
6 Feet, 3 Inches
Donald Trump's height, according to Donald Trump.
13th Place
Trump's fundraising rank compared to all other 2016
candidates. Consider that Gov. Jeb Bush has raised 25 times
as much money, and yet Trump continues to poll three times
better than the Florida governor.
16 Golf Courses
The number of Trump-owned courses listed on Trump's
official website.
18 Bedrooms
... in "Trump Palace," The Donald's Palm Beach, Fla.,
mansion.
22.8 Percent
The lowest Trump has been in the national polls since
August, based on the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Other than Dr. Ben Carson, no other GOP candidate has come
within five points of Trump, even at his lowest.
$25
The cost of an in-room water bottle at Trump
International Hotel & Tower Chicago. And you thought the
minibar was expensive.
$31
The cost of Trump Vodka ... if you can find it. The brand
was discontinued in 2011 following poor sales.
(Editor: Is this a mini
bottle?)
42 Percent
The percentage of Trump campaign contributions coming
from small donations (less than $200). Small donations are
often a sign of grassroots support from everyday voters.
Compare Trump's figure to Bush's 3 percent.
98 Stories
The height of Trump Tower in Chicago. Some have called it
the tallest residential building in the world, though
technically, the building doesn't qualify, as it houses both
apartment and hotel tenants.
169x Wealthier
... than the next wealthiest 2016 candidate, Carly
Fiorina. Note that the estimates here are based on the
candidates' own claims
282 Feet
Length of the yacht Trump had to sell in the early '90s.
The businessman had to pay off a giant American Express
debt, and the yacht provided the cash.
371.6 Tweets
Average number of Trump tweets per month. That's a little
more than 12 tweets per day — about three times as much
as the average active Twitter user.
2,327th Star
... to be added to Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Trump earned
his star for his starring role on "The Apprentice."
14K Apartments
The number of apartments Trump owned at age 27, when he
was running the Trump Management Corporation.
67K Followers
The average number of new Twitter followers Trump gains
in a month.
$375K
Trump's rumored per show earnings on "The Apprentice."
(Some reports point as high as $3 million per episode.)
5 Million
The approximate number of Twitter followers Trump will
have by the end of 2015.
$10 Million
The smallest denomination of money in Trump: The Board
Game. The 1989 game was loosely styled after Monopoly,
though Trump discontinued production shortly after launch
due to poor sales.
$400 Million
The amount of spendable money (i.e. liquid assets) Trump
makes in a year, according to Trump. He reported the figure
while appearing on "Hannity."
$4.5 Billion
Trump's estimated net worth, according to Forbes
magazine's team of researchers
$8.7 Billion
Trump's net worth, according to Trump himself. Note that
Trump later revised this estimate to "well over $10
billion," citing fluctuations in the stock market. Forbes'
take? A "100% exaggeration."
Source: presidential-candidates.insidegov.com/stories/7422/numbers-define-donald-trump?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=content.rec&utm_campaign=ao.cr.tb.dt.7422
24 Facts About Bernie Sanders and
His Presidential Campaign
Coming into this presidential primary season, it seemed as
though former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would have
little to no resistance in securing the Democratic Party
nomination. However, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has come
out of nowhere to challenge Clinton with a staunch support
base that's even created a line of underwear sporting his
adopted campaign motto: "Feel the Bern."
Well, it at least feels like Sanders has come out of
nowhere. Truth be told, he's served at nearly every level of
government, and has been involved in public policy dating
back to his college days.
InsideGov dug through Sanders' history and found 24 facts
about him and his 2016 presidential campaign that every
Democrat should know before heading into the primary season.
And who knows — maybe Republicans should bone up on
their Bernie knowledge, too. It's not as if Clinton hasn't
faltered in the primary race before.
24. Sanders has more grassroots supporters than Obama
had in 2008.
By the end of September 2015, 650,000 U.S. citizens
contributed to Sanders' campaign. That's almost double the
amount that President Obama had at that point in 2007, prior
to his White House win.
23.Sanders wants to tax carbon.
"Averting a planetary disaster will require a major
reduction in the burning of coal, oil, and other fossil
fuels," Sanders wrote in a 2014 piece for the Huffington
Post. Sanders opined that a carbon tax is "the most
straightforward and efficient strategy for quickly reducing
greenhouse gas emissions."
22. Sanders would be the oldest president ever
elected.
Sanders will be 75 by November 2016. The oldest president
to win a four-year term is former President Ronald Reagan,
who was 73 when he was elected to his second term in
1984.
Incidentally, Hillary Clinton will be 69 on the day of
the general election. Only Reagan was older when he was
first elected
21 Sanders would be the first Jewish president in U.S.
history.
There has never been a Jewish vice president, either. The
first Jewish candidate to appear on a major American
political party presidential ticket was Joe Lieberman, who
ran as Al Gore's vice president in 2000.
20. Sanders was a sloppy student.
The dean at the University of Chicago, where Sanders
attended for his undergraduate studies, once asked Sanders
to take off a year after his grades slipped.
19. Sanders ranks second in overall campaign
fundraising...
As of Oct. 15, 2015, Sanders ranks second in total
fundraising and fourth in campaign spending. His campaign
has over $27 million cash on hand.
Under construction.
Source: presidential-candidates.insidegov.com/stories/8009/bernie-sanders-facts-campaign-statistics
25 Things to Know About Hillary
Clinton
Like many of the pacesetters in this cycle's presidential
race, you either love her or you hate her. Hillary Clinton,
the leading hopeful for the Democratic nomination, has an
extensive résumé that encompasses a tenure as
the U.S. secretary of State, a senator representing New
York, and the first lady of both the United States and
Arkansas.
Hillary has domestic and foreign policy exposure both
first hand and from the sidelines. Even her background as a
lawyer mirrors 60 percent of the elected presidents before
her.
Whether her vote is already yours, you're on the fence or
you're a passionate opposer, here are 25 facts about the
frontrunner that you might not yet know.
2 Rejections
At the ages of 13 and 27, then-Hillary Rodham applied for
and was rejected for two roles. At 13, she wrote NASA
requesting to be accepted into its astronaut program. She
was rejected due to her gender. At 27, she tried to join the
Marines, but was allegedly rejected for being a woman,
having poor vision and being too old.
3 Names
The Washington Post reported that the formerly known
Hillary Rodham, Hillary Rodham Clinton and even HRC will now
be known simply as Hillary Clinton.
This is the latest update to Hillary's sometimes
controversial and complicated relationship with her maiden
name.
5 Books
Hillary Clinton has written five books. She's had twice
as many written about her from a generally positive stance.
However, even more books have been written about her with a
negative or neutral perspective.
5 Feet, 7 Inches
As one of the shorter presidential hopefuls this cycle,
Hillary Clinton measures in at 5' 7'' without heels.
Her height puts her right on par with Republican hopeful
Lindsey Graham and an inch taller than GOP candidate Carly
Fiorina.
7 Bedrooms
While the Clintons didn't always vacation as lavishly as
they do now, they reportedly do their R&R at a
seven-bedroom beachfront home in the Hamptons.
19 Years
According to the Huffington Post, Hillary hasn't driven a
car since 1996. Babies born that year were eligible to drive
three years ago.
53 Mentions
Of her 2,904 tweets, Hillary Clinton's official handle
(@HillaryClinton) has mentioned @HillaryforIA the most times
of any state-focused campaign handle. Iowa plays a key role
in the presidential nominating process.
58.5 Percent
As of publication, Hillary Clinton polls at 58.5 percent
among Democrats. Across all current candidates, Clinton has
the highest polling percentage.
68 Years Old
Born on Oct. 26, 1947, Hillary Clinton is 68 years old.
She was born in Chicago.
79 Countries
Not to be confused with the number of countries she
visited as secretary of State, Hillary Clinton traveled to
79 countries during her time as first lady. At the time,
this was the most visits, surpassing the previous record set
by Pat Nixon.
81 Percent
That's the percentage of contributions to Hillary
Clinton's official campaign committee that come from
individual donors giving at least $200 each — totaling
$62,785,473 to date, according to data from the Federal
Election Commission. Just 17 percent of contributions to her
campaign committee come from small donors.
103 Delegates
Many remember Hillary Clinton's defeat to now-President
Obama. What might be forgotten is how close she was to
nabbing the nomination. In 2008, Clinton fell shy of
President Obama by just 103 delegates.
400 Students
When she graduated from Wellesley College in 1969,
Hillary Clinton was the first student to ever give the
commencement address in its 91 years. She proceeded to call
out Sen. Edward Brooke, R-Mass., protesting his preceding
address, acknowledging there is a gap between expectations
and reality that politicians often cover up.
980 Square Feet
While former President Bill Clinton was serving as
Arkansas' Attorney General, he and Hillary lived in a
980-square-foot home in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Little
Rock, Ark.
Understandably, moving to the White House 12 years later
was a big upgrade. The White House offers its inhabitants an
impressive 54,900 square feet.
23,015 Copies
Hillary Clinton sold 23,015 copies of her 2014 book
"Hard Choices"... per week.
It ranked as the No. 1 political book of 2014, totaling
217,000 copies sold by August of that year.
30,490 Emails
A more-recent scandal under her belt, Hillary Clinton's
email controversy was deemed "the vampire" of her campaign
by Gov. Jerry Brown, D-Calif.
In total, 30,490 emails were sent and received by Clinton
from her personal email address between the dates of March
18, 2009, and Feb. 1, 2013. These were handed over to the
State Department for investigation in late 2014.
Underconstruction.
Source: presidential-candidates.insidegov.com/stories/8381/25-facts-hillary-clinton
* * *
Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions,
has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. -
Henry Brooks Adams
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