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class="post-445342 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-national-security tag-marines tag-women"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/why-did-the-marines-corps-fire-kate-germano-its-complicated/" title="Permalink to Why Did the Marine Corps Fire Kate Germano? It’s Complicated." rel="bookmark">Why Did the Marine Corps Fire Kate Germano? It’s Complicated.</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/aaron-maclean/" title="View all posts by Aaron MacLean" rel="author">Aaron MacLean</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-13T11:51:40+00:00" pubdate>July 13, 2015 11:51 am</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/why-did-the-marines-corps-fire-kate-germano-its-complicated/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fwhy-did-the-marines-corps-fire-kate-germano-its-complicated%2F&text=Why Did the Marine Corps Fire Kate Germano? It’s Complicated." title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/why-did-the-marines-corps-fire-kate-germano-its-complicated/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/why-did-the-marines-corps-fire-kate-germano-its-complicated/"><img width="540" height="405" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Marine-Women-Combat-540x405.jpg" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="Marines-Female General"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-445342" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>No one seems to know what to make of the case of Lieutenant Colonel Kate Germano, who was the commanding officer of a female recruit training battalion at Parris Island until last month, when she was fired.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-445342', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-445342', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-445342" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>No one seems to know what to make of the case of Lieutenant Colonel Kate Germano, who was the commanding officer of a female recruit training battalion at Parris Island until last month, when she was fired.</p> <p>Though the <em>New York Times</em> wrote up the story today, in an amusingly slanted <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/us/marine-commanders-firing-stirs-debate-on-integration-of-women-in-corps.html" target="_blank">piece</a> (more below) the best and most thorough report on the affair ran last week in the Marine Corps Times. Here’s the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/2015/07/07/kate-germano-fired-marine-corps-female-recruit-unit-commander/29763371/" target="_blank">gist</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>A Marine officer who led the service’s only all-female recruit battalion was fired amid complaints of a toxic leadership environment — but her supporters say she was only trying to make the unit better by holding women to tougher standards.</p> <p>Lt. Col. Kate Germano, the former commanding officer of 4th Recruit Training Battalion at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, was found to be “hostile, unprofessional and abusive,” according to a command investigation obtained by Marine Corps Times. She was relieved for cause on June 30 by Brig. Gen. Terry Williams, Parris Island’s commanding general.</p></blockquote> <p>Reading this, one might form the impression that Germano, however well-intentioned, was yet another officer relieved of duty for being abrasive—indeed, “hostile” and “abusive”—to those around her, and ultimately tiresome to her boss, with whom she had engaged in a series of bureaucratic dogfights regarding staffing levels, and against whom she <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/jul/02/germano-relieved-command-parris-island/" target="_blank">reportedly</a> filed an Equal Opportunity complaint.</p> <p>But read on, and the plot thickens. Germano’s crusade had apparently been to eliminate disparities between male and female recruit performance at Parris Island, within reason. For example, there was a gap between male and female performance on the rifle range, for which there seemed to be no explanation other than low expectations. All, including the men who fired her, concede that she made major progress in fixing this. And there’s more. According to a command investigation obtained by the Marine Corps Times’ Hope Hodge Seck, “Germano also ‘reinforced gender bias and stereotypes’ in the minds of her Marines by telling them on several occasions that male Marines would not take orders from them and would see them as inferior if they could not meet men’s physical standards, the investigation found.”</p> <p>What does one make of that? On the one hand, advocates for women in the military should be pleased that there is an aggressive leader out there who refuses to accept low standards. On the other hand, apparently her drive for raising standards upset the female Marines who worked for her, and who then trashed her in a command climate survey. Germano’s supporters point out that it is possible to take the online survey more than once, and argue that a “vocal minority” of Marines working for Germano were able to undermine her leadership.</p> <p>But wait, there’s more!</p> <blockquote><p>Allegations that Germano took a “victim-blaming” approach to sexual assault prevention stem from a January brief to officers. Witnesses said she implied that sexual assault is “100 percent preventable” and that “by drinking, you are putting yourself in a position to be sexually assaulted.” One attendee said she would not feel comfortable reporting an assault following the brief because she felt it would not be taken seriously.</p> <p>The investigation found that Germano’s personal viewpoints on the issue of sexual assault revealed no malice or bad intent. But, the investigating officer found, her poor choice of words and focus on accountability left room for misinterpretation and left some Marines feeling less safe.</p></blockquote> <p>This case has prompted some discussion about whether or not Germano’s aggressiveness would be criticized if it were coming from a male officer. Maybe. But one thing I know for a fact is that no male Marine officer, absent some sort of career death wish, would ever utter the words Germano reportedly did regarding sexual assault. Suggesting that female Marines could exercise some agency in matters of sexual assault rather than be helpless victims provided her enemies at Parris Island with a mile-wide advantage.</p> <p>Also relevant to the story, though not reported anywhere else that I have seen, is that Germano served on the Board of Inquiry for a Marine officer who was accused and, in 2013, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-06-02/news/bs-md-mark-thompson-verdict-20130602_1_midshipman-croquet-match-naval-academy" target="_blank">acquitted</a> by a court-martial of sexual assault while teaching at the Naval Academy. Though acquitted of the more serious charge, the officer, Major Mark Thompson, was found guilty of lesser charges, including conduct unbecoming. He was processed for discharge from the Marine Corps—until the administrative board with authority over the manner, of which Germano was a member, refused to comply, citing insufficient evidence that any crime had occurred, despite the outcome of the court-martial. (I taught at the Naval Academy at the time, and know Thompson.) The board’s decision cannot have endeared Germano to the Marine Corps’ senior leaders.</p> <p>Publications on both the left and right have been trying to appropriate this complicated tale into supporting evidence for their own ideological campaigns. The <em>New York Times</em> write up today is uncomplicatedly pro-Germano, and presents her as a crusader for women’s integration, kneecapped by a sexist Marine Corps. It takes a swing at the fact that Marine Corps recruit training is segregated by gender, quoting the ever-present Greg Jacobs of the Service Women’s Action Network saying that such a system is “archaic.” Feel free to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.stripes.com/news/us/more-female-drill-sergeants-help-change-cadence-at-fort-leonard-wood-1.325665" target="_blank">read about</a> what gender integrated recruit training in the Army can look like, and then judge for yourself what the Marine Corps ought to do.</p> <p>But the <em>Times</em> faces a problem. How can Germano be a warrior for women’s rights and social justice in the military if she holds such offensive and retrograde opinions on sexual assault, as the investigation into her conduct argues? No worries: the <em>Times</em> has a solution. It just doesn’t mention this part of the story at all.</p> <p>So why was Germano fired? Was she too much of a progressive crusader? Or too conservative in her blunt opinions, especially about sexual assault? This story is more complicated than a simple morality play wherein sexist bosses grow tired of an abrasive female subordinate. It appears that Germano’s aggressiveness, not to say her political incorrectness, made her vulnerable to female subordinates who didn’t care for her style, and who then campaigned for Germano’s removal on the grounds that she insulted them over poor physical performance, and made them feel “less safe.” Germano’s bosses, already exasperated by her refusal to shut up and color on a wide array of issues, no doubt felt they were doing the Right Thing by relieving her.</p> <p>Germano’s sin seems to be that she was pursuing actual respect for—and self-respect by—women in the Marine Corps, and not the fictitious appearance of equality that both her bosses, and some of her subordinates, appear to prefer.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-445342', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-445342', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/why-did-the-marines-corps-fire-kate-germano-its-complicated/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fwhy-did-the-marines-corps-fire-kate-germano-its-complicated%2F&text=Why Did the Marine Corps Fire Kate Germano? 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toggleBlog('blog-content-445285', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-445285" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>One of the bits of news to spill out of Comic Con this weekend was the revelation that DC and Warner Brothers would be putting together an animated version of “The Killing Joke.” Needless to say, this is very <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://everythingsaproblem.tumblr.com/post/123906072651/the-killing-joke" target="_blank">problematic</a>.</p> <p>For those of you not in the know, “The Killing Joke” is considered a seminal Batman story from the 1980s; along with Frank Miller’s work on “The Dark Knight Returns” and “Batman: Year One,” Alan Moore’s “The Killing Joke” basically set the tone for the character for the next 30 or so years. “The Killing Joke” would have a profound impact on the DC comic book universe, as Barbara Gordon (a/k/a Batgirl) was shot in the spine by the Joker, crippling her. Gordon would go on to become Oracle, a beloved character who served as a sort of directory assistance for characters in the Batman universe. She starred in a series called <em>Birds of Prey</em> that teamed her up with Black Canary, turning her into something of an icon for both feminist comic book fans and advocates for the disabled.</p> <p>Despite the fact that “The Killing Joke” directly led to the creation of one of the great feminist characters of all time, feminists hate the book because it involves a female character being shot, stripped, and photographed nude in order to mentally wound a male character. Mention “The Killing Joke” on Tumblr or Twitter and feminist fangirls <em>lose their minds. </em>They start screaming about “fridging”* and dudebros and sexism. They wail about the world of comics not being considered a safe space, that the companies aren’t welcoming them with open arms. Complaints like these are typical:</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-13-at-9.37.20-AM.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-445315" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-13-at-9.37.20-AM.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015-07-13 at 9.37.20 AM" width="590" height="116"/></a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-13-at-9.37.36-AM.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-445318" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-13-at-9.37.36-AM.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015-07-13 at 9.37.36 AM" width="591" height="118"/></a></p> <p>The implicit argument here is that the work of Moore and Miller—again, work that basically serves as the foundation for every modern iteration of the character Batman—should be memory holed in the name of progress. You see something similar at work from “DC Women Kicking Ass” on Tumblr:</p> <blockquote><p>I am well aware the book is popular among a certain set of readers. And DC Comics is a commercial company and part of a publicly traded larger company. No doubt this will make them money.</p> <p>But here’s a fact. You can make all the female friendly comics you want. You can talk about the desire to reach a female audience. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/117170701398/dc-comics-plan-for-girls-is-a-game-changer-for" target="_blank">You can create versions of your characters to real younger women.</a></p> <p>But by constantly milking a comic that is the poster child for “fridging” of women in comics – a comic where a woman is shot, stripped and sexually assaulted to drive the narrative of a male character, it is sending a very clear message about what it values more.</p></blockquote> <p>I’ve <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2015/04/09/gods-not-dead-lady-thor-and-when-new-audiences-come-to-old-media/" target="_blank">written</a> to this sort of sentiment before, but it’s worth reiterating in the wake of this “troubling” news: the reason non-PC comic book readers can’t stand the feminist set is because they aren’t interested in sharing the space—they’re interested in dominating it wholly. It’s not enough to make Squirrel Girl and Bat Girl and Spider-Gwen. The industry also has to disown its past, to declare it is ashamed of classic stories, to scorn the readers who have kept “The Killing Joke” in print through four separate decades. As Ace of Spades <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://ace.mu.nu/archives/357353.php" target="_blank">has noted in the context of video games</a>, the social justice set is not really interested in providing alternatives or opening up new markets. Rather, they’re interested in <em>changing what people like</em>. As long as people like “The Killing Joke”—and as long as DC refuses to memory hole it, to airbrush it out of existence like a Stalinist recreating history—these warriors will not have won.</p> <p><em>*Short explanation: The girlfriend of a Green Lantern was killed and stuffed into a fridge at some point in the 1990s, a symbol of the awful way women are treated in mainstream superhero books.</em></p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-445285', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-445285', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/lord-knows-the-joker-would-never-do-something-terrible-to-a-male-character/" 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data-href="http://freebeacon.com/blog/lord-knows-the-joker-would-never-do-something-terrible-to-a-male-character/" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="180" data-show-faces="false" data-action="like"></div> </div> <div class="medium-9 columns text-right buttons"> <div class="social-buttons"> <span class="st_twitter_large"></span> <span class="st_googleplus_large"></span> <span class="st_stumbleupon_large"></span> <span class="st_reddit_large"></span> <span class="st_pinterest_large"></span> <span class="st_sharethis_large"></span> <span class="print"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/lord-knows-the-joker-would-never-do-something-terrible-to-a-male-character/print/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/print-large.png" class="item"/></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article id="post-444523" class="post-444523 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-politics tag-2016-election tag-bernie-sanders tag-democratic-party tag-hillary-clinton"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-made-more-than-bernie-sanders-net-worth-in-one-speech/" title="Permalink to Hillary Clinton Made More than Bernie Sanders’ Net Worth in One Speech" rel="bookmark">Hillary Clinton Made More than Bernie Sanders’ Net Worth in One Speech</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/andrew-stiles/" title="View all posts by Andrew Stiles" rel="author">Andrew Stiles</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-10T11:31:31+00:00" pubdate>July 10, 2015 11:31 am</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-made-more-than-bernie-sanders-net-worth-in-one-speech/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fhillary-clinton-made-more-than-bernie-sanders-net-worth-in-one-speech%2F&text=Hillary Clinton Made More than Bernie Sanders’ Net Worth in One Speech" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-made-more-than-bernie-sanders-net-worth-in-one-speech/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-made-more-than-bernie-sanders-net-worth-in-one-speech/"><img width="540" height="366" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/444-540x367-540x366.jpg" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="AP"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-444523" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Hillary Clinton is trying to make history by becoming one of the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clintons-age-in-context/">oldest</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/the-clinton-family-fortune-by-the-numbers/">richest</a> Americans to be elected president in the modern era. Bernie Sanders, despite being embarrassingly poor by comparison, is also running for the Democratic nomination.</p> <p>How rich is Hillary Clinton? Well, in addition to earning (along with Bill) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/15/politics/hillary-clinton-speeches/">more than $30 million</a> since 2014, Hillary earned more than Sanders’ entire net worth in one speech sponsored by telecom giant Qualcomm.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-444523', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-444523', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-444523" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Hillary Clinton is trying to make history by becoming one of the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clintons-age-in-context/" target="_blank">oldest</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/the-clinton-family-fortune-by-the-numbers/" target="_blank">richest</a> Americans to be elected president in the modern era. Bernie Sanders, despite being embarrassingly poor by comparison, is also running for the Democratic nomination.</p> <p>How rich is Hillary Clinton? Well, in addition to earning (along with Bill) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/15/politics/hillary-clinton-speeches/" target="_blank">more than $30 million</a> since 2014, Hillary earned more than Sanders’ entire net worth in one speech sponsored by telecom giant Qualcomm.</p> <p>Sanders <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/summary.php?cid=N00000528&year=2013" target="_blank">reported</a> a net worth of $330,507 in 2013. In October of 2014, Hillary earned $335,000 to speak at a Qualcomm event in San Diego. The tech company, which has donated generously to the Clinton Foundation, has also <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/clinton-earned-more-than-25m-speaking-groups-lobbying-trade/" target="_blank">lobbied</a> the federal government to approve the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Sanders is firmly opposed to the agreement; so are labor unions and liberal heartthrob Elizabeth Warren. Hillary, meanwhile, has repeatedly failed to take a position, despite having <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/15/politics/45-times-secretary-clinton-pushed-the-trade-bill-she-now-opposes/" target="_blank">praised</a> the agreement on numerous occasion during her time as secretary of state.</p> <p>Several months after the Qualcomm speech, Clinton was paid $150,000 to address the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, an <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clintons-next-speech-hosted-by-foreign-bank-accused-of-aiding-enron-fraud/" target="_blank">institution</a> that has been the subject of multiple U.S. investigations, and has been accused of helping Enron commit fraud by misleading investors. Clinton’s total haul for those two speeches alone ($485,000) is greater than Marco Rubio’s reported <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/summary.php?cid=N00030612&year=2013" target="_blank">net worth</a> ($443,509 in 2013).</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/hillarymoney.gif"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-380707" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/hillarymoney.gif" alt="hillarymoney" width="399" height="403"/></a></p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-444523', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-444523', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns 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class="item"/></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article id="post-444484" class="post-444484 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-culture"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/katniss-is-basically-just-mao-if-you-think-about-it/" title="Permalink to The Fascist Iconography of District 13" rel="bookmark">The Fascist Iconography of District 13</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/sonny/" title="View all posts by Sonny Bunch" rel="author">Sonny Bunch</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-10T10:39:24+00:00" pubdate>July 10, 2015 10:39 am</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/katniss-is-basically-just-mao-if-you-think-about-it/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fkatniss-is-basically-just-mao-if-you-think-about-it%2F&text=The Fascist Iconography of District 13" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/katniss-is-basically-just-mao-if-you-think-about-it/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/katniss-is-basically-just-mao-if-you-think-about-it/"><img width="540" height="224" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Mockingjay-540x224.png" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="Mockingjay"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-444484" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>I’m not particularly enamored of the <em>Hunger Games</em> series of films, which have been pretty blah, as far as I’m concerned. Competently made, certainly, but not hugely impressive or anything. But I am transfixed by the teaser for the last film in the series:</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-444484', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-444484', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-444484" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>I’m not particularly enamored of the <em>Hunger Games</em> series of films, which have been pretty blah, as far as I’m concerned. Competently made, certainly, but not hugely impressive or anything. But I am transfixed by the teaser for the last film in the series:</p> <p><iframe src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/B-zYI2gzFNs" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>This is a more powerful bit of filmmaking than 90% of what made it up onto the big screen in the series. From the coordinated movements to the fetishization of weapons to the Nazi-esque appropriation of Katniess’ salute</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/District-13-heil.png"><img class="alignnone wp-image-444496" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/District-13-heil.png" alt="District 13 heil" width="640" height="257"/></a></p> <p>to the stark contrast of Katniss and the vanguard</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Katniss-and-the-vanguard.png"><img class="alignnone wp-image-444499" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Katniss-and-the-vanguard.png" alt="Katniss and the vanguard" width="640" height="261"/></a></p> <p>to the final moment where the dance troupe/revolutionary corps use their bodies to mimic the symbol of their revolt</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Mockingjay.png"><img class="alignnone wp-image-444502" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Mockingjay.png" alt="Mockingjay" width="640" height="266"/></a></p> <p>to the incredibly basic educational content for the proles</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Freedom.png"><img class="alignnone wp-image-444505" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Freedom.png" alt="Freedom" width="640" height="265"/></a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Is-Worth.png"><img class="alignnone wp-image-444508" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Is-Worth.png" alt="Is Worth" width="640" height="264"/></a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Fighting-For.png"><img class="alignnone wp-image-444511" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Fighting-For.png" alt="Fighting For" width="640" height="264"/></a></p> <p>this is propaganda filmmaking at its finest. It serves to rally the people of District 13, providing an image and a promise of strength and unity in the face of the enemy.</p> <p>And it relays to the audience <em>of</em> the film (rather than the audience <em>in</em> the film) a different message altogether, one that is a prominent theme of the final book in the series. This clip is short and spare, serving an important aesthetic purpose: Like so many other revolutionaries before them, the people of District 13 risk trading one fascist autocracy for another.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-444484', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-444484', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/katniss-is-basically-just-mao-if-you-think-about-it/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a 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class="st_twitter_large"></span> <span class="st_googleplus_large"></span> <span class="st_stumbleupon_large"></span> <span class="st_reddit_large"></span> <span class="st_pinterest_large"></span> <span class="st_sharethis_large"></span> <span class="print"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/katniss-is-basically-just-mao-if-you-think-about-it/print/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/print-large.png" class="item"/></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article id="post-442171" class="post-442171 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-politics tag-2016-election tag-bernie-sanders tag-democratic-party tag-hillary-clinton tag-trolling"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-vs-bernie-sanders-a-comparative-analysis/" title="Permalink to Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders, a Comparative Analysis" rel="bookmark">Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders, a Comparative Analysis</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/andrew-stiles/" title="View all posts by Andrew Stiles" rel="author">Andrew Stiles</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-09T14:15:16+00:00" pubdate>July 9, 2015 2:15 pm</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-vs-bernie-sanders-a-comparative-analysis/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns 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id="blog-excerpt-442171" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Journeyman candidate Hillary Clinton expects to win the Democratic nomination for president, something she failed to do in 2008. In order to do that, she will have to overcome a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/bernie-sanders-socialist-surge-119785.html">challenge</a> from Bernie Sanders, the preferred candidate of principled liberals. According to an in-depth comparative analysis by the <em>Free Beacon</em>, the two candidates are very different. Here’s how they stack up:</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-442171', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-442171', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-442171" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Journeyman candidate Hillary Clinton expects to win the Democratic nomination for president, something she failed to do in 2008. In order to do that, she will have to overcome a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/bernie-sanders-socialist-surge-119785.html">challenge</a> from Bernie Sanders, the preferred candidate of principled liberals. According to an in-depth comparative analysis by the <em>Free Beacon</em>, the two candidates are very different. Here’s how they stack up:</p> <h3>AGE</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>67</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>73</p> <p><strong><em>Advantage</em>: </strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. Age equals wisdom, and wisdom equals high-quality leadership. That explains why Ronald Reagan was the one of the greatest presidents of all time. Is Bernie Sanders the next Reagan? Maybe. But either way, his advanced age gives him the edge over Hillary.</p> <h3>GENDER</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>Cis Female</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>Cis Male</p> <p><strong><em>Advantage</em>: </strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. Hillary would be the first cis female president in history, but as the <em>New York Times</em> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/opinion/25fri1.html?ex=&_r=0">wrote</a> in 2008, this is “not a reason” to select a candidate. In fact, the <em>Times</em> argued that Hillary’s obsessive focus on “firstness” in 2008 had “tarnished the campaign.” Historically, most presidents have been male. The edge goes to Bernie.</p> <h3>RACE</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>White</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>White, Jewish</p> <p><strong><em>Advantage</em>: </strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. His Jewishness brings some <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.mediaite.com/online/tapper-on-sunday-show-diversity-cant-help-it-if-democratic-field-is-white/">much-needed diversity</a> to the Democratic field. If elected, he would become the first Jewish president in history. This is an important factor for voters to consider when casting their vote. Do they want to make history or not?</p> <h3>EDUCATION</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>Wellesley College, Yale Law</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>Brooklyn College, University of Chicago</p> <p><strong><em>Advantage</em>: </strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. Do we really need <em>another</em> Ivy League president? The last four commanders in chief attended either Harvard or Yale. Bernie would represent a welcome break from this elitist trend. During his time at the University of Chicago, Sanders was active in the Civil Rights Movement. Hillary, on the other hand, served as president of the Wellesley Young Republicans after volunteering on the Barry Goldwater campaign.</p> <h3>WEALTH</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>MA$$IVE. The Clintons have earned <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/15/politics/hillary-clinton-speeches/">more than $30 million</a> since 2014, which is <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/11-fortune-500-ceos-who-made-less-than-the-clintons-in-2014/">less than some Fortune 500 CEOs</a>. Her nine-month-old granddaughter <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clintons-nine-month-old-granddaughter-wears-oscar-de-la-renta/">wears</a> Oscar de la Renta.</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>Not very massive, compared to most senators. He reported a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/summary.php?cid=N00000528&year=2013">net worth</a> of $330,000 in 2013. Hillary made more than that in one hour for a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/bill-and-hillary-clinton-made-roughly-25-million-in-speeches-since-2014-118009.html">speech</a> sponsored by Qualcomm in October 2014. To the best of our knowledge, he’s never flown on a private jet with Arab royalty.</p> <p><strong><em>Advantage</em>: </strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. As one of the poorest members of the Senate, he can actually relate to the struggle of the less fortunate. Unlike Hillary, he would never be invited to give a paid speech to a group of Goldman Sachs executives. He can’t be bought, and that’s one of the reasons why principled liberal voters are rallying behind him.</p> <h3>TOP DONORS</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>Mostly <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&cid=n00000019">Wall Street banks and lobbying firms</a>.</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&cid=n00000528&type=I">Unions</a>, and that’s about it.</p> <p><strong><em>Advantage</em>: </strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. Democratic voters are looking for a candidate who stands up for the working man, not someone who takes money from Wall Street and their D.C. lobbyists.</p> <h3>SCANDALS</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>Myriad. She may have, for example, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/top-spy-hillarys-emails-likely-hacked-china-russia-iran_911707.html">exposed sensitive material to foreign intelligence agencies</a> by using a private email server. Many questions remains about her relationships with unsavory oligarchs.</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>Few. He once wrote a controversial <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/05/29/410606045/the-bernie-sanders-rape-fantasy-essay-explained">essay</a> about sex.</p> <p><strong><em>Advantage</em>: </strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. Because he isn’t obsessed with money, he has managed to avoid associating with sketchy individuals who might want to influence U.S. policy. He isn’t obsessed with power, either, and is unwilling to do whatever it takes to achieve it, such as deleting a bunch of emails that might complicate a presidential run. Hillary can’t help herself.</p> <h3>PRESS STRATEGY</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>Literally rope them off <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/seven-alternative-press-containment-strategies-for-hillary-clinton/">like cattle</a>, refuse to answer questions. According to her aides, Hillary “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/elliosch/status/618530742038056960">hates</a>” the press.</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>Isn’t afraid of the press, because he has nothing to hide.</p> <p><em><strong>Advantage:</strong> </em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. Reporters are more than welcome to report on his massive rallies, which is a good thing. Americans deserve to hear his message.</p> <h2><span style="text-decoration: underline;">WHERE THEY STAND ON THE ISSUES</span>:</h2> <p> </p> <h3>TRADE (TPP)</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>For (but she’s not allowed to say). As Secretary of State, she <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/15/politics/45-times-secretary-clinton-pushed-the-trade-bill-she-now-opposes/">repeatedly praised</a> the Trasn-Pacific Partnership agreement as “the gold standard” of trade agreements. Now, she won’t take a position beyond saying that “the question that were raised are ones that have to be answered,” whatever that means.</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>Against. Because he is a tireless champion for hard-working Americans, Bernie Sanders has <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/video-audio/defeat-the-trans-pacific-partnership">led the fight</a> to kill the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.</p> <p><em><strong>Advantage:</strong> </em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. Democratic voters are looking for someone who stands up and fights for the issues they care about, not someone who refuses to take a position out of political expediency and/or deference to her <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/as-hillary-stays-mum-on-pacific-trade-deal-corporate-backers-donate-millions-to-clinton-foundation/">corporate donors</a>.</p> <h3>GREECE</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/morningmoneyben/status/618558575913385984">???????</a> She wants to see a “resolution” to the crisis.</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/617809232017145856">Firmly opposed</a> to<b> </b>“more austerity for the poor, the children, the sick and the elderly.”</p> <p><em><strong>Advantage:</strong> </em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. He’s taken a firm position and he’s not afraid to lead. He understands that our commitment to economic justice should not end at our borders.</p> <h3>TAXES</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>?????? In an <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2015/07/07/cnn-exclusive-hillary-clintons-first-national-interview-of-2016-race/">interview</a> with CNN earlier this week, she refused to say if raising taxes was “on the table.”</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>Wants to raise the top tax rate <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-06-11/bernie-sanders-eyes-top-tax-rate-of-more-than-50-percent">above 50 percent</a>.</p> <p><em><strong>Advantage:</strong> </em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. The American people know where Sanders stands, and they agree that millionaires and billionaire should be forced to pay their fair share, and then some, even if they summer with the Clintons in the Hamptons.</p> <h3>GOVERNMENT</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>Doesn’t trust the government to handle even minor tasks, such as providing a secure email server.</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>Believes in government’s ability to do pretty much everything, such as <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://reason.com/blog/2015/05/26/bernie-sanders-dont-need-23-choices-of-d">limit the number of deodorant options</a>.</p> <p><em><strong>Advantage:</strong> </em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. Government is just the word we use for the things we choose to do together. Changing the world is more important than smelling nice.</p> <h3>WALL STREET</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/jeb-bush-goldman-sachs-2016-election-115672.html">personal friend</a>.</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>Firmly anti-greed.</p> <p><em><strong>Advantage:</strong></em><strong> </strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. The American people are tired of bailing out Wall Street, and would prefer to vote for someone whose campaign isn’t funded by Wall Street executives.</p> <h3>IRAQ WAR</h3> <p><strong>Clinton: </strong>Voted for it, then changed her mind once it was politically convenient.</p> <p><strong>Sanders: </strong>Voted <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/05/14/only-a-third-of-the-114th-congress-was-around-for-the-iraq-vote-but-a-lot-of-presidential-candidates-were/">against</a>.</p> <p><em><strong>Advantage:</strong></em><strong> </strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sanders</span>. As noted scholar Paul Krugman recently <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/paul-krugman-destroys-hillary-clinton/">argued</a>, when it comes to the Iraq War:</p> <blockquote><p>[Y]ou can understand why many political and media figures would prefer not to talk about any of this. Some of them, I suppose, may have been duped: may have fallen for the obvious lies, which doesn’t say much about their judgment. More, I suspect, were complicit: they realized that the official case for war was a pretext, but had their own reasons for wanting a war, or, alternatively, allowed themselves to be intimidated into going along. For there was a definite climate of fear among politicians and pundits in 2002 and 2003, one in which criticizing the push for war looked very much like a career killer.</p></blockquote> <p>In other words, Sanders was on the right side of history, whereas Hillary either A) has terribly judgement, B) love war, or C) doesn’t love war, but pretended to in order to advance her political career.</p> <h2><span style="text-decoration: underline;">FINAL ASSESSMENT</span>:</h2> <p>Only one candidate has the wisdom, leadership, and fearlessness to fight for everyday Americans.</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/rally-sign-blue_f30ee4ff-450d-40fd-b4fa-379585c2d83f_grande.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-443950" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/rally-sign-blue_f30ee4ff-450d-40fd-b4fa-379585c2d83f_grande.jpg" alt="rally-sign-blue_f30ee4ff-450d-40fd-b4fa-379585c2d83f_grande" width="630" height="409"/></a></p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-442171', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-442171', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-vs-bernie-sanders-a-comparative-analysis/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fhillary-clinton-vs-bernie-sanders-a-comparative-analysis%2F&text=Hillary Clinton vs. Bernie Sanders, a Comparative Analysis" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-vs-bernie-sanders-a-comparative-analysis/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social-icons"> <div class="medium-3 columns fb-button"> <div class="fb-like" data-href="http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-vs-bernie-sanders-a-comparative-analysis/" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="180" data-show-faces="false" data-action="like"></div> </div> <div class="medium-9 columns text-right buttons"> <div class="social-buttons"> <span class="st_twitter_large"></span> <span class="st_googleplus_large"></span> <span class="st_stumbleupon_large"></span> <span class="st_reddit_large"></span> <span class="st_pinterest_large"></span> <span class="st_sharethis_large"></span> <span class="print"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-vs-bernie-sanders-a-comparative-analysis/print/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/print-large.png" class="item"/></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article id="post-443611" class="post-443611 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-culture"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/obamas-america-smdh/" title="Permalink to Freedom of Expression Under Assault" rel="bookmark">Freedom of Expression Under Assault</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/sonny/" title="View all posts by Sonny Bunch" rel="author">Sonny Bunch</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-09T11:38:58+00:00" pubdate>July 9, 2015 11:38 am</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/obamas-america-smdh/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fobamas-america-smdh%2F&text=Freedom of Expression Under Assault" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/obamas-america-smdh/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/obamas-america-smdh/"><img width="540" height="257" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/First-Amendment_detail-540x257.png" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="garbage amendment tbh"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-443611" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>We spend a lot of time talking about how social media outrage mobs use Twitter and Facebook and the like to shut down debate and enforce the boundaries of discussion. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the government has far more power to stifle expression. Three recent cases demonstrate that nicely.</p> <p>First up are the government’s efforts to silence <em>Reason </em>magazine. After a few of the site’s (notoriously troublesome) commenters tweeted that a judge should be put in a wood chipper, the feds <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/10/413462238/reason-the-libertarian-mag-target-of-federal-subpoena">launched an investigation</a> as to the identity of the commenters. The investigation and the chilling effect therein was bad enough; far worse was the fact that the magazine was forced by court order <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://reason.com/blog/2015/06/19/government-stifles-speech">not to discuss the case</a>:</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-443611', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-443611', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-443611" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>We spend a lot of time talking about how social media outrage mobs use Twitter and Facebook and the like to shut down debate and enforce the boundaries of discussion. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the government has far more power to stifle expression. Three recent cases demonstrate that nicely.</p> <p>First up are the government’s efforts to silence <em>Reason </em>magazine. After a few of the site’s (notoriously troublesome) commenters tweeted that a judge should be put in a wood chipper, the feds <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/10/413462238/reason-the-libertarian-mag-target-of-federal-subpoena">launched an investigation</a> as to the identity of the commenters. The investigation and the chilling effect therein was bad enough; far worse was the fact that the magazine was forced by court order <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://reason.com/blog/2015/06/19/government-stifles-speech">not to discuss the case</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>The subpoena demanded the records of six people who left hyperbolic comments at the website about the federal judge who oversaw the controversial conviction of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. Shortly after the subpoena was issued, the government issued a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://d1ai9qtk9p41kl.cloudfront.net/assets/db/14347463755058.pdf">gag order</a> prohibiting Reason not only from discussing the matter but even acknowledging the existence of the subpoena or the gag order itself. As a wide variety of media outlets have noted, such actions on the part of the government are not only fundamentally misguided and misdirected, they have a tangible chilling effect on free expression by commenters and publications alike.</p></blockquote> <p>Just to hammer home the point: A government entity was allowed to silence a journalistic enterprise from reporting on a matter of political importance. This is outrageous.</p> <p>Similarly outrageous are the efforts made by a judge to stop people from expressing themselves near his courthouse. Ken White has the details over at <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://popehat.com/2015/07/07/do-judges-have-inherent-dignity/">Popehat</a>:</p> <p style="color: #000000; padding-left: 30px;">But that’s only the beginning. Judge Mahon goes on:</p> <blockquote style="font-style: italic; color: #777777; padding-left: 30px;"> <p style="font-style: inherit; color: #000000; padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit;">Demonstrations or dissemination of materials that degrade or call into question the integrity of the Court or any of its judges (e.g., claiming the Courts, Court personnel or judges are “corrupt,” biased, dishonest, partial, or prejudiced), thereby tending to influence individuals appearing before the Courts, including jurors, witnesses, and litigants, shall be prohibited on the Duval County Courthouse grounds.</span></p> </blockquote> <p style="color: #000000; padding-left: 30px;">In other words, handing passersby a print-out of this post, in which I am about to say that Judge Mahon is biased, dishonest, partial, prejudiced, and a <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: inherit;">stone idiot who has no business presiding over parking ticket appeals</span>, is prohibited on courthouse grounds, and on surrounding sidewalks, and even some sidewalks across the street, in Jacksonville, Florida.</p> <p>Once again: A government entity attempted to silence a journalistic enterprise from expressing itself on a matter of political importance. That’s no good!</p> <p>Finally, there’s the case of the Oregon bakery told to shut up about its disinterest in being forced to serve gay weddings. This was not, as some reported, a gag order. But as Walter Olson notes at Ricochet, it was <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://ricochet.com/oregon-bakers-statements-to-national-media-were-unlawful/">troubling nonetheless</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>That’s not how Oregon saw it. It chose to go after the Kleins over appearances they did in national conservative media, and over having posted a sign on their closed business thanking supporters and promising to continue the fight. (They continue to sell cakes they bake at home.) Included as subjects of this complaint were national media interviews in which the Kleins, along with statements about what had gone through their mind when they turned down the lesbian couple’s request, added a few forward-looking statements such as “we can see this becoming an issue and we have to stand firm.” The window posting, meanwhile, included the language “This fight is not over. We will continue to stay strong. Your religious freedom is becoming not free anymore. It is ridiculous that we cannot practice our faith.”</p> <p>Remarkably, as Scott Shackford <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://reason.com/blog/2015/07/02/not-baking-a-wedding-cake-leads-to-13500">noted at Reason</a>, both the state agency and Avakian — see pp. 22-26 of his <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.oregon.gov/boli/SiteAssets/pages/press/Sweet%20Cakes%20FO.pdf">ruling</a> — interpreted these statements as unambiguously announcing a forward-looking intent to discriminate in future transactions. Avakian’s ruling neither notices nor engages the objection that speech by the targets of a government enforcement action seeking to rally public support for their cause might need more careful First Amendment handling than the announcement of, say, a gender preference in a classified ad.</p></blockquote> <p>Seriously, though: What’s up with government entities trying to stifle speech in recent weeks? Knock it off, guys.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-443611', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-443611', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/obamas-america-smdh/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fobamas-america-smdh%2F&text=Freedom of Expression Under Assault" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/obamas-america-smdh/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social-icons"> <div class="medium-3 columns fb-button"> <div class="fb-like" data-href="http://freebeacon.com/blog/obamas-america-smdh/" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="180" data-show-faces="false" data-action="like"></div> </div> <div class="medium-9 columns text-right buttons"> <div class="social-buttons"> <span class="st_twitter_large"></span> <span class="st_googleplus_large"></span> <span class="st_stumbleupon_large"></span> <span class="st_reddit_large"></span> <span class="st_pinterest_large"></span> <span class="st_sharethis_large"></span> <span class="print"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/obamas-america-smdh/print/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/print-large.png" class="item"/></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article id="post-443167" class="post-443167 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-politics tag-2016-election tag-bill-clinton tag-clinton-foundation tag-democratic-party tag-hillary-clinton"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/pro-clinton-corporation-slashes-thousands-of-jobs/" title="Permalink to Pro-Clinton Corporation Slashes Thousands of Jobs" rel="bookmark">Pro-Clinton Corporation Slashes Thousands of Jobs</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/andrew-stiles/" title="View all posts by Andrew Stiles" rel="author">Andrew Stiles</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-08T17:08:15+00:00" pubdate>July 8, 2015 5:08 pm</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/pro-clinton-corporation-slashes-thousands-of-jobs/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fpro-clinton-corporation-slashes-thousands-of-jobs%2F&text=Pro-Clinton Corporation Slashes Thousands of Jobs" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/pro-clinton-corporation-slashes-thousands-of-jobs/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/pro-clinton-corporation-slashes-thousands-of-jobs/"><img width="540" height="378" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Hillary-Clinton11-540x378.jpg" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="AP"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-443167" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Microsoft on Wednesday <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/microsoft-shed-7-800-jobs-mostly-phone-business-n388606?cid=sm_tw&hootPostID=722965ca25a7e2517ef625663e387530">announced</a> plans to lay off up to 7,800 employees on Wednesday as part of a restructuring effort related to its Nokia mobile phone division.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-443167', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-443167', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-443167" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Microsoft on Wednesday <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/microsoft-shed-7-800-jobs-mostly-phone-business-n388606?cid=sm_tw&hootPostID=722965ca25a7e2517ef625663e387530" target="_blank">announced</a> plans to lay off up to 7,800 employees on Wednesday as part of a restructuring effort related to its Nokia mobile phone division.</p> <p>“We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem including our first-party device family,” CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a company-wide email. “In the near-term, we’ll run a more effective and focused phone portfolio while retaining capability for long-term reinvention in mobility.”</p> <p>Last year, Microsoft said it planned to let go of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/17/technology/enterprise/microsoft-job-cuts/" target="_blank">18,000 employees</a>, or about 14 percent of the company’s workforce, despite simultaneously lobbying Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would make it easier to hire foreign workers.</p> <p>Microsoft is a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/for-the-clintons-a-corporate-love-affair-with-microsoft/" target="_blank">major supporter</a> of the Clinton empire. Microsoft employees were big donors to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 president campaign; the company’s employees and political action committees contributed more than $180,000. The corporation has donated at as much as $500,000 to the Center for American Progress, a left-wing advocacy group founded by Hillary’s current campaign manager (and Bill Clinton’s chief of staff) John Podesta.</p> <p>Microsoft regularly <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/meetings/annual-meetings/2014/sponsors" target="_blank">sponsors</a> Clinton Foundation events and has donated as much as $5 million to the nominally charitable organization. The company has spent more than $100 million lobbying the federal government since 1998, and the International Business Times <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.ibtimes.com/firms-paid-bill-clinton-millions-they-lobbied-hillary-clinton-1899107" target="_blank">reported</a> that Microsoft was one of 13 corporate entities to pay Bill Clinton to give a speech while simultaneously lobbying the State Department during Hillary’s tenure as secretary of state. After receiving zero State Department contracts during the Bush administration, Microsoft was awarded $4.7 million worth of federal contracts in the first few years of the Obama administration.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-443167', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-443167', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/pro-clinton-corporation-slashes-thousands-of-jobs/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a 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class="st_twitter_large"></span> <span class="st_googleplus_large"></span> <span class="st_stumbleupon_large"></span> <span class="st_reddit_large"></span> <span class="st_pinterest_large"></span> <span class="st_sharethis_large"></span> <span class="print"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/pro-clinton-corporation-slashes-thousands-of-jobs/print/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/print-large.png" class="item"/></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article id="post-442942" class="post-442942 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-politics tag-hillary-clinton"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-inside-out/" title="Permalink to Hillary Clinton, Inside Out" rel="bookmark">Hillary Clinton, Inside Out</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/andrew-stiles/" title="View all posts by Andrew Stiles" rel="author">Andrew Stiles</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-08T13:17:48+00:00" pubdate>July 8, 2015 1:17 pm</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-inside-out/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fhillary-clinton-inside-out%2F&text=Hillary Clinton, Inside Out" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-inside-out/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-inside-out/"><img width="500" height="354" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/AP738133192587.jpg" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="AP"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-442942" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>The <em>Washington Free Beacon</em>, through psychographic analysis, has obtained an exclusive look at Hillary Clinton’s inner state while CNN’s Brianne Keilar asked her why <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/politics/majority-of-americans-do-not-trust-hillary-clinton/">voters don’t trust her</a> as a candidate:</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-442942', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-442942', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-442942" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>The <em>Washington Free Beacon</em>, through psychographic analysis, has obtained an exclusive look at Hillary Clinton’s inner state while CNN’s Brianne Keilar asked her why <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/politics/majority-of-americans-do-not-trust-hillary-clinton/">voters don’t trust her</a> as a candidate:</p> <p><iframe width="630" height="420" 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<p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/sonny/" title="View all posts by Sonny Bunch" rel="author">Sonny Bunch</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-08T09:16:20+00:00" pubdate>July 8, 2015 9:16 am</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/every-anti-schumer-think-piece-makes-me-like-her-8-percent-more/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fevery-anti-schumer-think-piece-makes-me-like-her-8-percent-more%2F&text=Amy Schumer: History’s Greatest Monster" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/every-anti-schumer-think-piece-makes-me-like-her-8-percent-more/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/every-anti-schumer-think-piece-makes-me-like-her-8-percent-more/"><img width="540" height="360" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/AP855519275745-540x360.jpg" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="History's greatest monster / AP"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-442558" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Every time I think we’ve reached Peak Stupid Think Piece the summit gets a little bit higher. The most recent example of this trend of derp? This amazing piece suggesting that the comedic stylings of Amy Schumer are responsible for, well, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/07/06/dont-believe-her-defenders-amy-schumers-jokes-are-racist/">this</a>:</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-442558', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-442558', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-442558" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Every time I think we’ve reached Peak Stupid Think Piece the summit gets a little bit higher. The most recent example of this trend of derp? This amazing piece suggesting that the comedic stylings of Amy Schumer are responsible for, well, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/07/06/dont-believe-her-defenders-amy-schumers-jokes-are-racist/" target="_blank">this</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>Just as Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump and other members of the Republican Party regularly disparage people of color and claim they are simply telling the truth, Schumer can use comedy as a protective shroud to deny the harm and hurt caused by her jokes. A joke is considered benign especially when told by a supposed white liberal feminist. We can distance ourselves from the anger, from the harm, from the ideology, and from the hatred of the “extreme,” but also find comfort in the same anger, ideology and hatred that is “just a joke.”</p> <p>This rhetoric isn’t just ugly. It contributes to a worldview that justifies a broken immigration system, mass incarceration, divestment from inner city communities, that rationalizes inequality and buttresses persistent segregation and violence. Yet nobody wants to take responsibility for spewing rhetoric that breeds the fear that results in soaring gun purchases, that “inspires” monsters like Dylann Roof to craft a manifesto with deadly consequences.</p></blockquote> <p>Amy Schumer isn’t responsible for Dylann Roof’s massacre, you see. She’s just responsible for creating the sort of intellectual environment in which Dylann Roof’s massacre is possible.</p> <p>That sounds totally reasonable.</p> <p>For more on Amy Schumer’s incredibly problematic nature, click <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://everythingsaproblem.tumblr.com/post/122850374436/amy-schumer" target="_blank">here</a>. TRIGGER WARNING: She tells jokes.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-442558', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-442558', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/every-anti-schumer-think-piece-makes-me-like-her-8-percent-more/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fevery-anti-schumer-think-piece-makes-me-like-her-8-percent-more%2F&text=Amy Schumer: History’s Greatest Monster" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/every-anti-schumer-think-piece-makes-me-like-her-8-percent-more/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social-icons"> <div class="medium-3 columns fb-button"> <div class="fb-like" data-href="http://freebeacon.com/blog/every-anti-schumer-think-piece-makes-me-like-her-8-percent-more/" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="180" data-show-faces="false" data-action="like"></div> </div> <div class="medium-9 columns text-right buttons"> <div class="social-buttons"> <span class="st_twitter_large"></span> <span class="st_googleplus_large"></span> <span class="st_stumbleupon_large"></span> <span class="st_reddit_large"></span> <span class="st_pinterest_large"></span> <span class="st_sharethis_large"></span> <span class="print"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/every-anti-schumer-think-piece-makes-me-like-her-8-percent-more/print/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/print-large.png" class="item"/></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article id="post-441910" class="post-441910 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-politics tag-2016-election tag-bill-clinton tag-hillary-clinton"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/family-matters-eccentric-siblings-put-strain-on-clinton-fortune/" title="Permalink to Family Matters: Eccentric Siblings Put Strain on Clinton Fortune" rel="bookmark">Family Matters: Eccentric Siblings Put Strain on Clinton Fortune</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/andrew-stiles/" title="View all posts by Andrew Stiles" rel="author">Andrew Stiles</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-07T14:44:55+00:00" pubdate>July 7, 2015 2:44 pm</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/family-matters-eccentric-siblings-put-strain-on-clinton-fortune/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Ffamily-matters-eccentric-siblings-put-strain-on-clinton-fortune%2F&text=Family Matters: Eccentric Siblings Put Strain on Clinton Fortune" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/family-matters-eccentric-siblings-put-strain-on-clinton-fortune/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/family-matters-eccentric-siblings-put-strain-on-clinton-fortune/"><img width="540" height="450" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/AP98121601144-540x450.jpg" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="Bill Clintons half-brother, Roger Clinton, rallies a crowd. (AP)"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-441910" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>The <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-clintons-brotherly-love-includes-financial-help-and-a-3-bedroom-house/2015/07/05/c59fefd8-1044-11e5-9726-49d6fa26a8c6_story.html"><em>Washington Post</em></a> and the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/us/politics/clinton-first-brother-is-wary-chatty-and-still-occasionally-attracting-attention.html"><em>New York Times</em></a> have published new details this week about the relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton and their wayward siblings. Bill’s half-brother Roger Clinton, and Hillary’s brothers Hugh and Tony Rodham, have all benefited from their ties to the most successful power couple in politics, yet have little to show for it.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441910', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-441910', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-441910" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>The <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-clintons-brotherly-love-includes-financial-help-and-a-3-bedroom-house/2015/07/05/c59fefd8-1044-11e5-9726-49d6fa26a8c6_story.html" target="_blank"><em>Washington Post</em></a> and the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/07/us/politics/clinton-first-brother-is-wary-chatty-and-still-occasionally-attracting-attention.html" target="_blank"><em>New York Times</em></a> have published new details this week about the relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton and their wayward siblings. Bill’s half-brother Roger Clinton, and Hillary’s brothers Hugh and Tony Rodham, have all benefited from their ties to the most successful power couple in politics, yet have little to show for it.</p> <p>The <em>Times</em> reports that Roger Clinton, who received a pardon from President Clinton for a 1985 cocaine conviction, is currently living in an $850,000 house in the Los Angeles suburbs purchased by the former president through a limited liability corporation while Rogers was in debt to the IRS to the tune of almost $60,000. He also tried to use his family ties to cash in on a business venture building houses in earthquake-ravaged Haiti:</p> <blockquote><p>More recently, Roger Clinton parlayed his family ties into a consulting arrangement with a group of builders hoping to sell houses in Haiti, where Bill Clinton’s private foundation and Mrs. Clinton’s State Department helped direct recovery efforts after the 2010 earthquake. Roger Clinton’s intended role, previously unreported, was to use his connections to help win approvals, said Wayne Coleman, a Houston businessman involved in the project, which ultimately went nowhere.</p> <p>“I paid Roger $100,000,” Mr. Coleman said. “Basically, he promised to get us a contract through the Clinton Foundation for a project over there. What he was really trying to do was sell the influence of his brother.”</p></blockquote> <p>Roger, who is also an actor who <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0166935/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t15" target="_blank">starred in films</a> such as <em>Spy Hard</em>, <em>Bio Dome</em>, and <em>The Rugrats Movie</em>, is not the only Clinton sibling who attempted to exploit family connections in order to cash in on the devastation in Haiti. (He is, however, the only one known to have <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/25/roger.clinton.nkorea/index.html?_s=PM:US" target="_blank">performed</a> in North Korea.)</p> <p>Hillary’s brother Tony <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clintons-younger-poorer-brother/" target="_blank">also sought</a> to facilitate construction contracts through the Clinton Foundation, and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/role-of-hillary-clintons-brother-in-haiti-gold-mine-raises-eyebrows/2015/03/20/c8b6e3bc-cc05-11e4-a2a7-9517a3a70506_story.html" target="_blank">joined the advisory board</a> of a U.S. company with gold-mining rights in Haiti after meeting the CEO at a Clinton Foundation event. Tony also got hooked-up with a job at current Virginia governor (and former Clinton campaign operative) Terry McAuliffe’s electric car company after “complaining to my brother-in-law I didn’t have any money,” the <em>Post</em> reports. The Clintons have “given me money all the time,” Rodham said during court proceedings in a lawsuit filed by his former attorney over unpaid legal bills. The former first couple, for example, has paid for Rodham’s son’s school tuition, including a weekly allowance.</p> <p>Florida attorney Hugh Rodham is the most low-key of the siblings, although he did wage a failed campaign for Senate in 1994, beating a UFO conspiracy theorist to win the Democratic nomination before losing to Republican Connie Mack by 40 points. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/02/28/pardons_reemerge_as_issue_in_clinton_run/?page=full" target="_blank">Hugh Rodham</a>, like <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/26/us/roger-clinton-s-dogged-effort-for-drug-trafficker.html" target="_blank">Roger Clinton</a>, was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby President Clinton for pardons on behalf of clients in the late 1990s.</p> <p>“Their brothers have always been there for them, and they will always be there for their brothers,” Clinton representatives told the <em>Post </em>in a joint statement.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441910', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-441910', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/family-matters-eccentric-siblings-put-strain-on-clinton-fortune/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Ffamily-matters-eccentric-siblings-put-strain-on-clinton-fortune%2F&text=Family Matters: Eccentric Siblings Put Strain on Clinton Fortune" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/family-matters-eccentric-siblings-put-strain-on-clinton-fortune/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social-icons"> <div class="medium-3 columns fb-button"> <div class="fb-like" data-href="http://freebeacon.com/blog/family-matters-eccentric-siblings-put-strain-on-clinton-fortune/" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="180" data-show-faces="false" data-action="like"></div> </div> <div class="medium-9 columns text-right buttons"> <div class="social-buttons"> <span class="st_twitter_large"></span> <span class="st_googleplus_large"></span> <span class="st_stumbleupon_large"></span> <span class="st_reddit_large"></span> <span class="st_pinterest_large"></span> <span class="st_sharethis_large"></span> <span class="print"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/family-matters-eccentric-siblings-put-strain-on-clinton-fortune/print/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/print-large.png" class="item"/></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article id="post-441823" class="post-441823 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-politics tag-2016-election tag-bill-clinton tag-chelsea-clinton tag-greece tag-hillary-clinton tag-wall-street"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/flashback-clinton-son-in-law-bet-big-on-greek-recovery/" title="Permalink to FLASHBACK: Clinton Son-in-Law Bet Big on Greek Recovery" rel="bookmark">FLASHBACK: Clinton Son-in-Law Bet Big on Greek Recovery</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/andrew-stiles/" title="View all posts by Andrew Stiles" rel="author">Andrew Stiles</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-07T12:18:47+00:00" pubdate>July 7, 2015 12:18 pm</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/flashback-clinton-son-in-law-bet-big-on-greek-recovery/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fflashback-clinton-son-in-law-bet-big-on-greek-recovery%2F&text=FLASHBACK: Clinton Son-in-Law Bet Big on Greek Recovery" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/flashback-clinton-son-in-law-bet-big-on-greek-recovery/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/flashback-clinton-son-in-law-bet-big-on-greek-recovery/"><img width="540" height="360" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/AP650043808114-540x360.jpg" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="AP"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-441823" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Clinton son-in-law Marc Mezvinsky a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/dont-give-your-money-to-clinton-son-in-law-marc-mezvinsky/">terrible hedge fund manager</a>. You shouldn’t give him your money, unless you’re more interested in gaining political access to the Clintons than you are in earning an actual financial return on your investment. On second thought, what’s the difference?</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441823', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-441823', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-441823" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Clinton son-in-law Marc Mezvinsky a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/dont-give-your-money-to-clinton-son-in-law-marc-mezvinsky/" target="_blank">terrible hedge fund manager</a>. You shouldn’t give him your money, unless you’re more interested in gaining political access to the Clintons than you are in earning an actual financial return on your investment. On second thought, what’s the difference?</p> <p>Mezvinsky, who lives with his wife Chelsea Clinton in a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/chelsea-clinton-buys-10-5-million-article-1.1288710" target="_blank">$10.5 million condo</a> in Manhattan, cofounded Eaglevale Partners in 2012 with the help of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, a major Clinton donor and personal friend of the family. A number of other wealthy Democrats chipped in, including billionaire investor and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry, who is also Chelsea’s former employer. The Rothschild family was also an early investor.</p> <p>The fund has <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.wsj.com/articles/hedge-fund-co-founded-by-chelsea-clintons-husband-suffers-losses-tied-to-greece-1423000325?cb=logged0.9408243075013161" target="_blank">performed poorly</a>, mostly as a result of the bullish bets it made on an economic recovery in Greece. The <em>New York Times</em> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/business/dealbook/for-clintons-a-hedge-fund-in-the-family.html" target="_blank">reports</a> that Eaglevale lost 3.6 percent in 2014 primarily as a result of its Greece-related investments, while other similar hedge funds gained an average of more than 5 percent:</p> <blockquote><p>Eaglevale had worse luck with a fund that raised $25 million solely to bet on a recovery in Greece. Its 40 percent plunge last year was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal.</p> <p>Some investors in Eaglevale have withdrawn from or reduced their investments. The investment linked to the Rothschild fund, for example, withdrew about half of its allotment.</p> <p>The two public pension investors that invested in Eaglevale at the recommendation of the Rock Creek Group are out of the fund altogether. Calpers left the fund as part of a retreat from hedge fund investments. The other pension fund, whose identity could not be determined, left because of the firm’s poor performance, said another person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.</p> <p>In letters to its investors month after month last year, Mr. Mezvinsky and his partners sounded an upbeat and confident note that Greece would soon be on the path to a “sustainable recovery.” It was not until the end of last year that Eaglevale finally acknowledged, “Our recent predictions regarding Greek politics have proved incorrect.”</p></blockquote> <p>Oops.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441823', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-441823', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a 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class="medium-3 columns fb-button"> <div class="fb-like" data-href="http://freebeacon.com/blog/flashback-clinton-son-in-law-bet-big-on-greek-recovery/" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="180" data-show-faces="false" data-action="like"></div> </div> <div class="medium-9 columns text-right buttons"> <div class="social-buttons"> <span class="st_twitter_large"></span> <span class="st_googleplus_large"></span> <span class="st_stumbleupon_large"></span> <span class="st_reddit_large"></span> <span class="st_pinterest_large"></span> <span class="st_sharethis_large"></span> <span class="print"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/flashback-clinton-son-in-law-bet-big-on-greek-recovery/print/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/print-large.png" class="item"/></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article id="post-441469" class="post-441469 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-culture tag-afghanistan tag-iraq tag-veterans"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/veterans-4th-of-july-fireworks-and-ptsd/" title="Permalink to Veterans, 4th of July Fireworks, and PTSD" rel="bookmark">Veterans, 4th of July Fireworks, and PTSD</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/aaron-maclean/" title="View all posts by Aaron MacLean" rel="author">Aaron MacLean</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-07T05:00:01+00:00" pubdate>July 7, 2015 5:00 am</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/veterans-4th-of-july-fireworks-and-ptsd/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fveterans-4th-of-july-fireworks-and-ptsd%2F&text=Veterans, 4th of July Fireworks, and PTSD" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/veterans-4th-of-july-fireworks-and-ptsd/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/veterans-4th-of-july-fireworks-and-ptsd/"><img width="540" height="366" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-06-at-3.35.49-PM-540x366.png" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="Military With PTSD Sign / Facebook"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-441469" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>As the Fourth of July approached this year, there was an <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/06/19/some-military-veterans-struggle-with-fireworks-but-is-this-sign-the-answer/">interesting</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/01/health/ptsd-vets-and-fireworks-irpt/">bubble</a> of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/02/july-can-bad-day-veterans-ptsd/29649083/">press</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/06/24/yard-signs-help-warn-4th-of-july-revelers-of-combat-vets-ptsd.html">coverage</a> that focused on the efforts of an Indiana-based nonprofit, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.militarywithptsd.org/">Military With PTSD</a>, to make available these signs across the country:</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441469', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-441469', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-441469" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p> </p> <p>As the Fourth of July approached this year, there was an <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/06/19/some-military-veterans-struggle-with-fireworks-but-is-this-sign-the-answer/">interesting</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/01/health/ptsd-vets-and-fireworks-irpt/">bubble</a> of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/02/july-can-bad-day-veterans-ptsd/29649083/">press</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/06/24/yard-signs-help-warn-4th-of-july-revelers-of-combat-vets-ptsd.html">coverage</a> that focused on the efforts of an Indiana-based nonprofit, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.militarywithptsd.org/">Military With PTSD</a>, to make available these signs across the country:</p> <div id="attachment_441466" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-06-at-3.35.49-PM.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-441466" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Screen-Shot-2015-07-06-at-3.35.49-PM.png" alt="Military With PTSD Sign / Facebook" width="640" height="434"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Military With PTSD Sign / Facebook</p></div> <p> </p> <p>How widespread is this effort? The group’s distribution of signs reportedly began in 2014 (when it was covered by <em><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.usatoday.com/story/nation/2014/07/02/ptsd-fireworks-4th-july-veterans/12024123/">USA Today</a> </em>and other <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/4/fourth-fireworks-nightmare-combat-veterans/?page=all">outlets</a>) and has grown significantly more popular this year, with over 2,500 signs distributed and around 3,000 people on a waiting list as Independence Day approached, according to CNN. In terms of the total number of veterans out there in America, these numbers constitute a small fraction: the VA <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.va.gov/vetdata/Veteran_Population.asp">estimates</a> that there are over 20 million vets living in America today. Among these men and women, the number of combat veterans—those who served in a combat zone during a time of war—will be lower, but will still number well into the millions.</p> <p>So it may be that these signs are not a major phenomenon: Coverage in the press has a way of inflating the significance of trends. On the other hand, the group’s <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://www.facebook.com/MilitarywithPTSD">Facebook page</a> has nearly 150,000 “likes”—not an enormous number, but not an insignificant one, either. From the perspective of media criticism, the coverage seems to rate somewhere right on the line between “fake trend” and “possibly the start of something.”</p> <p>That stipulated, it is certainly the case that the coverage has sparked a debate among veterans, much of it conducted in quiet tones among friends, considering the sensitivity of the subject matter. I first became aware of the issue through a June <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/06/19/some-military-veterans-struggle-with-fireworks-but-is-this-sign-the-answer/">story</a> in the <em>Washington Post</em>, in which the author, a journalist and Afghanistan veteran (and former <em>Free Beacon </em>intern) named Thomas Gibbons-Neff, solicited reactions on Twitter to the group’s distribution of signs.</p> <p>These reactions were generally negative. Some commenters agreed with Gibbons-Neff that while the impulse behind the signs was understandable, perhaps it would be better to have a conversation with one’s neighbors, rather than putting up a vaguely standoffish notice in one’s yard. Others suggested that the sign unfairly and inaccurately lumped all “combat veterans” together in a group that was presumed to dislike fireworks. As one vet proposed:</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en" data-conversation="none"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/Tmgneff">@Tmgneff</a> I’m making a new sign. “Infantry veteran lives here. Please bring me along to set off most dangerous fireworks.”</p> <p>— Alex Horton (@AlexHortonTX) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/AlexHortonTX/status/611569443118956544">June 18, 2015</a></p></blockquote> <p><script src="//web.archive.org/web/20150714090854js_/http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async="" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>Others went further, with one commenter suggesting that such a sign was “counter to everything we stood, fought for,” though the tone of this response was an outlier. In general, the criticism was respectful and reserved, no doubt because anyone who finds the signs discomfiting is also aware of a population of veterans who suffer from severe PTSD, and for whom, in some cases, fireworks are a genuinely unwelcome reminder of past trauma. For evidence of this fact, look no further than Military With PTSD’s own Facebook page, which is replete with commenters telling harrowing stories of the negative effects suffered by them or their loved ones upon exposure to unanticipated pyrotechnics.</p> <p>I count myself among those who find the signs off-putting. I can quite clearly imagine the distress of those who find themselves sensitive for years, if not for life, to things that remind them of incidents like IED strikes or indirect fire. Like most combat veterans, I have had my own tussles with post-traumatic stress, limited as it may have been: somewhat unusually for an infantry Marine of my generation, I had only one combat deployment—albeit quite a violent one, to Marjah in 2010—and there are many who deployed to combat in Iraq or Afghanistan four or five or more times.</p> <p>Even so, upon my return from Afghanistan I exhibited the classic symptoms of hyper-vigilance. The experience of not having a firearm constantly on my person was regularly upsetting. I remember my heart beating overtime as a cold sweat broke out in reaction to entirely innocuous events, like being unable to find my leaf-blower in a messy garage on an otherwise still, perfect autumn Saturday morning. There were also moments that were, for lack of a better term, morally dark. I acted out, allowing my temper and other bad habits greater control over my actions, because in the back of my mind I nursed the irresponsible belief that I had earned the right to misbehave, because I had seen or done difficult things that others had not.</p> <p>There were days that were, frankly, degrading. One winter evening, following a day’s required training in “Operational Stress Control and Relief”—essentially, talk-therapy training mandated by the Marine Corps—I found my vision blurring and my clammy hands shaking as I drove down a dark road in the back woods of Camp Lejeune in the direction of home. I had to pull over to the side of the road lest I hit a tree or an oncoming car, the headlights of which appeared like disorienting fractals in my eyes, which I kept blinking frantically in the hopes that my vision would clear up. Sitting on that shoulder, in one of the lower moments of my life, I scrambled to find a card in my wallet on which I had the number of the mother of one of my Marines who had been killed. She had attended the memorial service for the Battalion upon our return, and had been almost unbelievably gracious and graceful in her embrace of her son’s fellow Marines. In my panicked logic—the overall physical experience was similar to what I have heard described as the symptoms of a panic attack—I thought that if I could get through to her on the phone, she might be able to offer me some words of consolation or absolution that, at that moment, I decided I needed. I thank God to this day that she didn’t happen to pick up, and find herself confronted with being asked to carry yet another burden.</p> <p>Then, slowly, things got better. Perhaps I am lucky in this regard, and I know that there are those who are not—some close friends of mine among them. Even so, I question the value of these signs and the broad implications that they seem to broadcast. While the signs might provide some benefit in shielding some veterans who are grievously affected by PTSD from unexpected noises, the manner in which they achieve this seems less than neighborly. Moreover, the signs contribute to an atmosphere of stigmatization. They quietly promote the inaccurate and harmful notion that combat veterans are a class of Americans who require careful handling, because otherwise we might be spooked, or angered, or driven to a violent overreaction. You never know what will make us flip out!</p> <p>Helping to build higher such a wall between veterans and society is a great shame. This is not just a general concern. It applies to the individual veteran working with a lasting case of PTSD, too. While posting such a sign in the yard <em>might</em> achieve a short term benefit of getting one’s neighbors to give you advance warning of their pyrotechnics, it is also just as likely that such a display will isolate the veteran from his immediate community, in a way that a series of friendly chats conducted with the same purpose would not.</p> <p>There are hidden dangers for veterans to be found in joining the many groups making ostentatious demands for environments safe from hurtful stimuli in our country. There is a hidden cost to society, too, because veterans have so much to offer their country, <em>especially</em> if they have seen combat. There is a special kind of wisdom made available to such a man or woman that America is desperately in need of today. Its beginnings can be found in the veteran’s appreciation for the modest things in life. When I was a boy, my dad—a World War II veteran who was sent to North Africa in 1943, and told he could come home when the war was won—never took me camping. He had spent years, as he put it, sleeping in the mud, and had no desire to continue once the experience became optional. Now I get it. I don’t mind the outdoors quite as much as he did, but following my time in the infantry, I rarely fail to appreciate simple pleasures: a bed. A roof when it is raining. A good night’s sleep. A full meal. The person I love next to me. I take few things for granted anymore—as is the case for most veterans.</p> <p>This special wisdom can also be found in more profound matters. The veteran knows that war can damage you, but that it can also improve you. The improvement works like this: nothing happens on the battlefield that does not happen back here at home. Death, pain, the loss of those close to you; courage and cowardice; victory and defeat; loyalty, love and—once in a while—betrayal. The difference, of course, is that on the battlefield it all happens much faster and the experience is therefore much more intense. Here at home, in wealthy, comfortable, modern America, we can go for long stretches ignoring these dramatic aspects of life—but not, in the end, escaping them. We will—all of us—die, and almost all of us will suffer the experience of losing people we love. We will be brave sometimes, and not at other times, and we will be impressed or disappointed by the bravery or cowardice of those upon whom we depend. We will win and we will lose.</p> <p>The battlefield gives the veteran intimate experience of all of these things. It is thus a source of wisdom. This is the “strength” that veterans bring back home with them to America, both as individuals and as people who participate in civic life. Their strength is their wisdom: their knowledge of a hard world outside of our prosperous communities, and their intimate knowledge of the good and the evil aspects of the human condition.</p> <p>One of the great benefits that veterans can provide to American society at large is the perspective and resilience gained from these experiences, even—or perhaps especially—if the warp-speed exposure to these experiences has left a mark, even a lasting or painful mark. I am much more healthy now than I was a few years ago, because the metronome of my body and soul has had time to slow and recalibrate itself with the pace of peacetime existence. But I have no desire to let go of the grief I still feel about those I served alongside who died or were grievously wounded. It would be a betrayal.</p> <p>I find no contradiction between feeling this way while still agreeing strongly with James Mattis, who recently <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/james-mattis-feels-sorry-for-those-who-didnt-serve/">told</a> a gathering of veterans:</p> <blockquote> <p style="text-align: left;">For today I feel sorry for those who were not there with us when trouble loomed. I sometimes wonder how to embrace those who were not with us, those who were not so fortunate to discover what we were privileged to learn when we were receiving our Masters and Ph.D.s in how to live life, and gaining the understanding and appreciation of small things that we would otherwise have never known.</p> </blockquote> <p style="text-align: left;">So let’s not wall ourselves off from our neighbors with signs that imply—intentionally or not—that civic life needs to adjust to us, or else. Next Independence Day, if fireworks pose a concern, let’s talk to our neighbors, or even try to set some off together with them in the street. Veterans, especially those who have some experience of trauma, have so much to offer their communities, and there is much that full participation in the life of their communities can do for them. All of this will get off to a better start with a neighborly chat, not with a sign.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441469', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-441469', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/veterans-4th-of-july-fireworks-and-ptsd/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fveterans-4th-of-july-fireworks-and-ptsd%2F&text=Veterans, 4th of July Fireworks, and PTSD" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/veterans-4th-of-july-fireworks-and-ptsd/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social-icons"> <div class="medium-3 columns fb-button"> <div class="fb-like" data-href="http://freebeacon.com/blog/veterans-4th-of-july-fireworks-and-ptsd/" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="180" data-show-faces="false" data-action="like"></div> </div> <div class="medium-9 columns text-right buttons"> <div class="social-buttons"> <span class="st_twitter_large"></span> <span class="st_googleplus_large"></span> <span class="st_stumbleupon_large"></span> <span class="st_reddit_large"></span> <span class="st_pinterest_large"></span> <span class="st_sharethis_large"></span> <span class="print"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/veterans-4th-of-july-fireworks-and-ptsd/print/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/print-large.png" class="item"/></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article id="post-441493" class="post-441493 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-politics tag-2016-election tag-barack-obama tag-jeb-bush tag-parody tag-sports tag-trolling"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/analysis-jeb-bush-throws-baseball-like-normal-american-man-unlike-obama/" title="Permalink to ANALYSIS: Jeb Bush Throws Baseball Like Normal American Man (Unlike Obama)" rel="bookmark">ANALYSIS: Jeb Bush Throws Baseball Like Normal American Man (Unlike Obama)</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/andrew-stiles/" title="View all posts by Andrew Stiles" rel="author">Andrew Stiles</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-06T17:27:54+00:00" pubdate>July 6, 2015 5:27 pm</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/analysis-jeb-bush-throws-baseball-like-normal-american-man-unlike-obama/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fanalysis-jeb-bush-throws-baseball-like-normal-american-man-unlike-obama%2F&text=ANALYSIS: Jeb Bush Throws Baseball Like Normal American Man (Unlike Obama)" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/analysis-jeb-bush-throws-baseball-like-normal-american-man-unlike-obama/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/analysis-jeb-bush-throws-baseball-like-normal-american-man-unlike-obama/"><img width="540" height="405" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/baseball-540x405.jpg" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="Right and Wrong."/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-441493" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush can throw a baseball like a normal American man, a <em>Free Beacon</em> analysis had found. Bush’s throwing ability sets him apart from President Obama, who is <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/exclusive-breaking-analysis-obama-still-cant-throw-a-baseball/">unable to throw a baseball correctly</a>, per the results of a previous <em>Free Beacon</em> investigation.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441493', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-441493', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-441493" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush can throw a baseball like a normal American man, a <em>Free Beacon</em> analysis had found. Bush’s throwing ability sets him apart from President Obama, who is <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/exclusive-breaking-analysis-obama-still-cant-throw-a-baseball/">unable to throw a baseball correctly</a>, per the results of a previous <em>Free Beacon</em> investigation.</p> <p>Bush’s throwing form was captured at an Independence Day parade in New Hampshire:</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">VIDEO: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/JebBush">@JebBush</a> shows off his pitching arm after the Amherst <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/hashtag/IndependenceDay?src=hash">#IndependenceDay</a> parade. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/hashtag/FITN?src=hash">#FITN</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://t.co/qvufllzHD6">pic.twitter.com/qvufllzHD6</a></p> <p>— Jamie Burnett (@JamieNH2016) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/JamieNH2016/status/617435887895339010">July 4, 2015</a></p></blockquote> <p><script src="//web.archive.org/web/20150714090854js_/http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async="" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>Despite clocking in at an underwhelming 52 miles-per-hour, Bush displayed impressive form and throwing mechanics. Body alignment, leg action, and follow through are all solid. Pitching ability appears to run in the family.</p> <p><iframe src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/NjGcCI9ByWw" width="630" height="400" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>Obama, on the other hand, has repeatedly demonstrated a horrendous lack of competence on the mound:</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ObamaCantThrow321.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-270562" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ObamaCantThrow321.jpg" alt="Barack Obama" width="630" height="413"/></a></p> <p>Extrapolative analytics determined that Obama is incapable of matching Bush’s less-than-impressive 52 mph pitch speed.</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/pathpath-copy.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-441634" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/pathpath-copy.jpg" alt="pathpath-copy" width="630" height="473"/></a></p> <p>This great American’s form is far superior to the sitting president’s:</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/AP11050818923.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-441640" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/AP11050818923.jpg" alt="Lillian Pete Campbell" width="630" height="820"/></a></p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441493', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-441493', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a 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class="item"/></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> <article id="post-441391" class="post-441391 blog type-blog status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry category-politics tag-2016-election tag-al-gore tag-bill-clinton tag-democratic-party tag-hillary-clinton"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/al-gore-lewinsky-clinton/" title="Permalink to REPORT: Al Gore Shoots Down Lewinsky Box Invite" rel="bookmark">REPORT: Al Gore Shoots Down Lewinsky Box Invite</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/andrew-stiles/" title="View all posts by Andrew Stiles" rel="author">Andrew Stiles</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-06T16:24:06+00:00" pubdate>July 6, 2015 4:24 pm</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://freebeacon.com/blog/al-gore-lewinsky-clinton/" title="Facebook" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Share</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns twitter"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreebeacon.com%2Fblog%2Fal-gore-lewinsky-clinton%2F&text=REPORT: Al Gore Shoots Down Lewinsky Box Invite" title="Twitter" target="_blank" onclick="window.open(this.href,'share','menubar=0,resizable=1,width=500,height=350');">Tweet</a> </div> <div class="small-4 columns email"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/mailto:/?subject=Check Out http://freebeacon.com/blog/al-gore-lewinsky-clinton/" title="Email">Email</a> </div> </div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/al-gore-lewinsky-clinton/"><img width="540" height="344" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/AP612144807739-540x344.jpg" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="AP"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-441391" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p><em>New York Times</em> columnist and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/04/opinion/dowd-dont-harsh-our-mellow-dude.html">marijuana aficionado</a> Maureen Dowd <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-paris-when-it-sizzles.html?_r=0">reveals</a> how Monica Lewinsky continues to be punished for her role in L’affaire Clinton:</p> <blockquote><p>PARIS — THE turquoise tranquillity of the Côte d’Azur was rocked a couple of times during the Cannes Lions Festival, the advertising world’s rosé-soaked answer to the Cannes Film Festival.</p> <p>Al Gore snubbed Monica Lewinsky. Lewinsky, who was giving a speech for Ogilvy & Mather about how she became “patient zero” in the cyberbullying epidemic, was slated to sit in a V.I.P. box with the former vice president, who got an award for being a good brand.</p> <p>But her invite got yanked.</p></blockquote> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441391', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-441391', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-441391" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p><em>New York Times</em> columnist and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/04/opinion/dowd-dont-harsh-our-mellow-dude.html">marijuana aficionado</a> Maureen Dowd <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-paris-when-it-sizzles.html?_r=0">reveals</a> how Monica Lewinsky continues to be victim-shamed for her role in L’affaire Clinton:</p> <blockquote><p>PARIS — THE turquoise tranquillity of the Côte d’Azur was rocked a couple of times during the Cannes Lions Festival, the advertising world’s rosé-soaked answer to the Cannes Film Festival.</p> <p>Al Gore snubbed Monica Lewinsky. Lewinsky, who was giving a speech for Ogilvy & Mather about how she became “patient zero” in the cyberbullying epidemic, was slated to sit in a V.I.P. box with the former vice president, who got an award for being a good brand.</p> <p>But her invite got yanked.</p></blockquote> <p>The snubbing, Dowd writes, was “a reminder that Gore’s prissy attitude” toward the Lewinsky scandal, and his reluctance to feature Bill Clinton on the campaign trail in 2000, might have cost him the election.</p> <p>Dowd also takes issue with the notion that Lewinsky was the first victim of “cyberbullying,” as such.</p> <blockquote><p>Monica’s main bullies were not of the cyber variety. The Internet was just getting up and running. Her chief bullies were flesh and blood, a raffish president and feminist first lady who are now vying to be a feminist president and raffish first lad. They’re the ones who tried to paint her as a “narcissistic looney toon,” as Hillary put it to her friend Diane Blair.</p> <p>Sidney Blumenthal, Hillary’s Doberman and email correspondent, led the sliming of Monica as a fantasist and stalker. Hillary’s friends do not regard Monica as a victim, but a predator. They think she let herself in for trouble when she took up with a married president who was a magnet for right-wing bullies.</p></blockquote> <p>Blair’s “looney toon” comments were first <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/politics/the-hillary-papers/">reported</a> by the <em>Free Beacon</em>.</p> <p>Bill Clinton was a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://www.canneslions.com/cannes_lions/press/press_releases/225/film_film_craft_branded_content_entertainment_titanium_and_integrated_lions_winners_announced/">featured speaker</a> at the Cannes Liones Festival. It is not known whether the former president had any interaction with Lewinsky during the event. He did, however, manage to squeeze in a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/politics/bill-clintons-limo-service-to-hermes-cost-taxpayers-8852/">taxpayer-financed shopping spree </a>at French luxury retailer Hermès, an outlet that is currently <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/bill-clinton-shops-at-luxury-french-retailer-busted-for-animal-torture/">under fire</a> from animal rights groups for torturing adorable creatures in the name of fashion.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441391', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-441391', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a 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tag-hillary-clinton tag-media"> <header class="entry-header"> <h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/seven-alternative-press-containment-strategies-for-hillary-clinton/" title="Permalink to Seven Alternative Press-Containment Strategies for Hillary Clinton" rel="bookmark">Seven Alternative Press-Containment Strategies for Hillary Clinton</a></h2> </header> <div class="entry-summary"> <div class="entry-meta"> <p><span class="sep">BY: </span> <span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/author/andrew-stiles/" title="View all posts by Andrew Stiles" rel="author">Andrew Stiles</a></span></p><p><time class="entry-date" datetime="2015-07-06T13:51:14+00:00" pubdate>July 6, 2015 1:51 pm</time></p> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a 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</div> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/blog/seven-alternative-press-containment-strategies-for-hillary-clinton/"><img width="540" height="405" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/CJFvm5mUAAAqqX_-540x405.jpg" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" alt="(Philip Rucker, Twitter)"/></a> <div id="blog-excerpt-441154" class="row"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Journeyman presidential candidate Hillary Clinton <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/246878-hillary-campaign-ropes-off-media">literally roped off the press</a> during a Fourth of July parade in New Hampshire over the weekend.</p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441154', 'none'); toggleBlog('blog-content-441154', '');" class="read-more">Read More <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-right.png"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="blog-content-441154" class="row" style="display:none;"> <div class="small-12 columns"> <p>Journeyman presidential candidate Hillary Clinton <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/246878-hillary-campaign-ropes-off-media">literally roped off the press</a> during a Fourth of July parade in New Hampshire over the weekend.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Clinton advance aides create a rope line for the press, moving with the candidate <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://t.co/9S7CpVt7x4">pic.twitter.com/9S7CpVt7x4</a></p> <p>— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/617397904131670016">July 4, 2015</a></p></blockquote> <p><script src="//web.archive.org/web/20150714090854js_/http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async="" charset="utf-8"></script>In fairness to Hillary, some of the reporters following her campaign were attempting to do their jobs. </p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p> . <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton">@HillaryClinton</a> offers to buy press ice cream. . <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/danmericaCNN">@danmericaCNN</a> responds “how about instead of ice cream a question” <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://t.co/k1ZNR3oVfV">pic.twitter.com/k1ZNR3oVfV</a> — Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/617077984495828992">July 3, 2015</a> </p></blockquote> <p><script src="//web.archive.org/web/20150714090854js_/http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async="" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>Rope is a simple and reasonably efficient way to prevent the press from entering Hillary’s safe space, but if her campaign is serious about insulating the candidate from filthy reporters, they may want to consider the following alternatives.</p> <h3>1. Backhoe</h3> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/backhoe.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-441214" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/backhoe.jpg" alt="backhoe" width="630" height="421"/></a></p> <h3>2. Horse Trailer</h3> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/trailer.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-441223" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/trailer.jpg" alt="OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA" width="630" height="430"/></a></p> <h3>3. Invisible Fence</h3> <p><iframe src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/hHoZo8qF8iI" width="630" height="400" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <h3>4. Toddler Harness</h3> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/toddlerpack.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-441313" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/toddlerpack.jpg" alt="toddlerpack" width="630" height="422"/></a></p> <h3>5. Mad Max Method</h3> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/madmaxtapper.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-441298" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/madmaxtapper.jpg" alt="madmaxtapper" width="630" height="400"/></a></p> <h3>6. Truckasaurus</h3> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/trucka.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-441334" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/trucka.jpg" alt="trucka" width="630" height="432"/></a></p> <h3>7. Dikembe Mutombo</h3> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/e2e171799293dcad7144ea4bd81477b6.550x303x23.gif"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-441316" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/e2e171799293dcad7144ea4bd81477b6.550x303x23.gif" alt="e2e171799293dcad7144ea4bd81477b6.550x303x23" width="550" height="303"/></a></p> <p> </p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854/Javascript:toggleBlog('blog-excerpt-441154', ''); toggleBlog('blog-content-441154', 'none');" class="read-more"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150714090854im_/http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/themes/freebeacon/images/red-arrow-left.png"/> Read Less</a> </div> </div> <div class="row social"> <div class="small-4 columns facebook"> <a 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