hillary-clinton

There has been a major breakthrough in U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russian investigation: thirteen Russians have been charged with tampering with the U.S. 2016 election, the BBC reports. Three of the named individuals have been accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud while five have been accused of aggravated identity theft. Three Russian entities were also identified, including the Internet Research Agency (known for its Russian trolls and inciting ads on social media), according to Bloomberg.According to The Hill, other individual charges include creating false U.S. personas, posing as U.S. citizens and U.S. identity theft. "Defendants' operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump ("Trump campaign") and disparaging Hillary Clinton," the indictment reads.“From in or around 2014 to the present, Defendants knowingly and intentionally conspired with each other (and with persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury) to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the government through fraud and deceit for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016,” it continues. "Defendants made various expenditures to carry out those activities, including buying political advertisements on social media in the names of U.S. persons and entities."Although this news is a breakthrough in the investigation, it is believed that this does not mark the investigation's conclusion. The special counsel still hopes to interview the president, and more charges could be on the...

FBI Deputy Director, Andrew McCabe, stepped down from his head role at the bureau, following months of presidential pressure, The Hill reports. McCabe was expected to retire in early March. He has been the subject of Republican attacks, and has been accused of anti-Republican bias. He was accused of being a Clinton supporter when it came to light that his wife took nearly half a million dollars in donations for her state legislature campaign from a figure connected to Hillary Clinton.  President Trump criticized this campaign donation back in December, suggesting that it compromised McCabe's objectivity:How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin’ James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wife’s campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017Reportedly, at a later time, the president questioned McCabe on who he voted for in the 2016 election. The then deputy director disclosed that he decided not to vote, according to CNN.Prior to the encounter, the president wanted to know why A.G. Sessions had not replaced the acting FBI Director, who is also, a friend of Comey--who is leading the Clinton investigationMcCabe headed the probe into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server; many of those looking for his dismissal believed, like the president did, that McCabe should have been fired along with Comey.Until today, it was believed that McCabe was trying to prolong his stay at the FBI until he was up for retirement.Although he is stepping down, he will remain on the FBI payroll until he is eligible to receive his pension benefits, reported NBC News. Following the announcement, former Attorney General Eric Holder praised the deputy director in a tweet. He regarded McCabe as a "dedicated public servant." FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is, and has been, a dedicated public servant who has served this country well. Bogus attacks on the FBI and DOJ to distract attention from a legitimate criminal inquiry does long term, unnecessary damage to these foundations of our government.— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) January 29,...

Everyone seems to be hopping on the black folk hype train, thanking black people, especially black women, for turning up in the Alabama polls, leading to Doug Jones' win. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg actually made a major flub by generally thanking "women" for the Jones victory. "Women" in general did not deliver Jones' victory. As Newsweek notes, 63 percent of white women voted for Jones' rival, accused child molester Roy Moore."It wasn’t women; it was women of color. Let’s be clear about that," one user, Jae Lingberg Shah, wrote as a reply to Sandberg's post.Sandberg responded to Shah with, "Thank you for adding this. Black women voted 98% for Jones — that’s huge."The COO then edited her post.  Actress Susan Sarandon also ran into some digital trouble for her statements about the Alabama election. You may remember that Sarandon was a very outspoken opponent of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election (her candidate of choice was Green Party candidate, Jill Stein). Some have credited the actress' anti-Clinton campaign with helping to contribute to Trump's win. Unlike Sandberg, Sarandon gave credit where credit was due the first time: Thank you African Americans in Alabama who organized and fought their way to the polls despite so much voter suppression. Thank you Selma once again. Respect. pic.twitter.com/aU3C1rG70A— Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) December 13, 2017However, many black people on Twitter weren't here for it, and basically told her to keep her thanks:YouHelpScrewBlackPeopleLastYear.You're not welcome. pic.twitter.com/uU4pjthsjd— Rico 81💯💣💥💥 (@reesetheone1) December 13, 2017Don't talk to us! This is how much you care for POC. pic.twitter.com/TfNzVdPF79— Grandma Gretchen (@wechoosewisdom) December 14, 2017Susan, black folks do what we gotta do to survive in turmoil! We always have! It’s not about you! You also tried to break us down! No, thanks! #BlackWomen pic.twitter.com/L5RTfZOE0k— ♐️ Mahogany Brown (@WkndGirl) December 13, 2017Susan please 🤫 We don’t have 💩 for you pic.twitter.com/nVgu9APczm— F*ck This 💩 (@epitomee) December 13, 2017Fall back, lady. pic.twitter.com/krbse72at6— Letzy (@Letzy__) December 14, 2017Basically, Black Twitter collectively came together like...

A few months ago, we reported that 76 percent of black millennials disapproved of President Trump, which spoke to his overall sixth-month approval rating of 36 percent.Well, there is one black representative who hasn't lost faith in Trump and his name is Bruce Carter. Carter is a former Senator Bernie Sanders presidential campaign supporter and founder of Black Men for Bernie. These days, he heads Trump for Urban Communities, which he also founded.Carter didn't vote in this past general presidential election because he was registered in Texas but wasn't in the state on election day. However, he was clear on who he would've voted for.“I am currently a registered Democrat,” he told the Philadelphia Tribune via phone call. “To be honest with you, [Trump] didn’t need my vote in Texas. But had I been there, I would have voted for Trump.”Essentially, it looks like Carter had lost his faith in the Democratic Party as a whole.“The Democratic Party has failed Black people for decades and even today they are still in disarray as to how they’re going to serve the people,” Carter noted.However, that faith is firm with it comes to Trump.“I still feel that even with everything [Trump has done], even the foolishness and all the tweets that make no sense,” he continued. “I still believe that the best opportunity for the people and for things to get better will come from him and not a Hillary Clinton president.”Carter has a mission to help the youth, veterans and other struggling Americans with his new organization Opportunity Centers of America. The organization bears the slogan, “Ending generations of hopelessness.”Because of his Trump branding, many aren't keen to hop aboard his hope hype train, though.“I had some people who didn’t want to accept help because of the Trump brand,” said Carter. “I couldn’t get that, and these were people who needed help the most. They just could not get past the name of the organization.”Still, Carter believes things will get better and proof of progress will take some time.“I am very confident that this time next year — in 12 months — there will be individuals in a better position,” Carter had told Philly Tribune last year. “There will be examples of people who will have been affected, I do believe, by the greatest thing that happened for urban communities and Black voters. [That is] that the Democratic stronghold that was there is not there...

Randall Woodfin has made Birmingham, Alabama history!Woodfin, who was backed by Bernie Sanders, beat out two-term incumbent, William Bell, to become the youngest mayor of Alabama’s largest city since 1893, according to CNN.Senator Sanders tweeted out his congratulations to Woodfin:Congratulations to Mayor-Elect @WoodfinForBham for running a great grassroots and winning campaign. I look forward to working with him.— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 4, 2017“Our city, our 23 communities, our 99 neighborhoods, you have all spoken very clearly – we deserve better,” said the Morehouse alum during his victory speech.And Woodfin isn’t new to this, he’s true to this!Per Morehouse’s official website, Woodfin studied political science and served as Student Government Association president during his senior year. “That gave me an amazing opportunity, not only to lead the student body, but also to interact with the administration and members of the board of trustees. I learned a lot about who I was. And I learned how to be a leader,” said Woodfin of his experience at Morehouse on his campaign website.Woodfin has experience within various arms of the Birmingham city government. A former lawyer, he was once assistant city attorney. He served in the Birmingham Board of Education from 2013 to 2015, and served as the Hillary Clinton campaign Alabama state director in 2016. During his campaign, Woodfin promised to focus on restoring and improve the city's neighborhoods. According to the Washington Post, he said during his campaign, “This is not about change for change’s sake. This is about progress.”Congrats to Randall...

The Congressional Black Caucus' annual conference is underway, and black women’s relationship with the Democratic Party has been a hot topic of debate.The Washington Post reports that the Democrats might have something to worry about.A new Black Women’s Roundtable and Essence magazine survey entitled “Power of the Sister Vote,” found that the percentage of black women who claimed the Democratic Party “best represents their interests” has dropped by a significant amount in the last year, going from 85 percent to 74 percent. That’s an 11 percent drop!The elephant-themed party shouldn’t get too excited, however. Only one percent of black women feel the GOP represents them and their concerns. The bulk of black women actually said that neither party is really here for them. As for President Trump himself, 93 percent of black women don’t believe he’s addressing their concerns. But, of course, black women had already expressed as much in the voting booth."I think it's great," said Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights senior adviser Ashley Allison about the survey consisting of 1,247 women. "I think black women are saying, 'I don't owe anything to anybody except myself.' "Though the survey respondents were made up of a self-selected group (instead of a random sample) and may not officially represent black women across the country, we can’t help but notice that the results do seem to echo public discussions amongst black women within social and political activism circles."Black women have been the most loyal supporters of the Democratic Party, through thick and thin," noted Avis Jones-DeWeever, a Black Women's Roundtable adviser. She said that, problematically, the party has focused more on wooing back "white male voters who have not supported the Democratic Party for 50 years" rather than "watering the garden in your own back yard."Though black women came out in droves to vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, it appears that many black women still have a general lack of faith in the Democratic Party. In the survey, black women listed health care, quality public education, jobs with a living wage, criminal justice reform and hate crimes among their list of concerns. Of the survey respondents, 98 percent were registered voters."With black women at the core of our party, Democrats are focused on harnessing this moment of grassroots enthusiasm into a sustained movement for electoral gain at the ballot box,” said Amanda Brown Lierman, political director of the DNC, in a statement. “We're organizing around the values we share — access to affordable health care, the dignity of a good-paying job with good benefits and a path to retirement security, and a quality education that opens the doors of...

Last year, on Mary J. Blige's online talk show, she sat down for a one-on-one with 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.In an new interview with Variety, Blige defended her decision to serenade Clinton with a rendition of "American Skin" by Bruce Springsteen. When the trailer for the episode dropped, many bloggers criticized her for doing so."That was going to be my first female president, so I’m going hard for people to hear her voice and see her other than a politician,” she said. “They took one piece of the song and played it everywhere. And then they felt stupid afterwards, [because] the interview was great. That’s the problem — people take a piece of something that they don’t understand and pick at it and tease it.”Watch as Mary J. Blige sings to Clinton below:Blige expressed just how disappointed she is in the Trump administration, and in the way things turned out in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.“We used to be a country that people looked at and respected,” she said. “Now we’re a country that people look at and judge. The integrity of the United States is lost. Is this a reflection of who we are? Look at who our leader is.”She also suggested that Clinton run for president in 2020.“I mean, if I was her, I would because she’s strong,” said Blige. “She’s done it. You see everything she had to take that wasn’t fair.”Clinton has yet to announce a bid. If she does run, however, it seems she'll have Blige's...

We're often quick to glorify politicians that are the antithesis of those politicians we don't like. But it is important to subject the politicians we like to the same level of critique we apply to those politicians we don't like.It's not just the image politicians portray to the public, but their actions that matter.Such is the case with Hillary Clinton, whose 1996 book It Takes A Village contains some alarming information.This Tuesday, activist and Bernie Sanders supporter Jeanette Jing posted a two-page excerpt of the book to her 33,000+ followers on Twitter.In re-reading the book, Jing came across a passage in which Clinton reminisced over her time as first lady of Arkansas beside her husband Bill Clinton, who served as the state's governor from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992.Via a report from Newsweek, the particular excerpt highlighted the fact that the Clintons used black prison laborers as staff at the Arkansas governor's mansion. She followed the initial tweet with a string of tweets warranting Clinton side-eyes. Maher said "house n*" and Clinton used prison labor at her mansion for ten yrs bc it was "a longstanding tradition which kept down costs." pic.twitter.com/EXPrVRjJ7G— Jeanette🌹Corbynista (@JeanetteJing) June 6, 2017“When we moved in, I was told that using prison labor at the governor’s mansion was a longstanding tradition, which kept down costs,” Clinton wrote in the book. She added that she became “friendly” with a few of the workers, most of whom were convicted murderers and who “had already served 12 to 18 years of their sentences.”Friendships with the Clintons offered the prisoners scant protections, however.Clinton portrays herself as a harsh taskmaster, writing, “We enforced rules strictly and sent back to prison any inmate who broke a rule.”Our almost-president also took it upon herself to claim that the black workers did not have “inferior IQs or an inability to apply moral reasoning,” instead classifying them as “emotional illiterates.”Ummm, I must’ve missed all those psychological degrees or certifications on Mrs. Clinton’s resume!Clinton didn’t confirm whether or not the black men received any money for the work they provided to her and her husband.The Centre for Research on Globalization reports that between the years of 1980 - 1994, prison labor wages could range between $1-2 an hour. Still, a 2016 Mother Jones article notes that “some state states, including Texas, Arkansas, and Georgia, do not pay inmates at all.”Jing put it all in plain terms via her tweet, stating that “Hillary Clinton was a direct participant in what [activist, data scientist and policy analyst Samuel Sinyangwe] @samswey correctly described as modern slavery.”Of course, Twitter wasn't having any of this mess and certainly chimed in with thoughts!Hillary's shittiness doesn't negate Trump's shittiness. Both are simultaneously true.— Taheerah🌹Barney (@fleshandbrand) June 7, 2017Hillary never cared about blacks. All she cared about was the black vote.— Terry (@xebec78) June 6, 2017According to the thirteenth amendment, that is exactly what prison labor is...slavery. pic.twitter.com/JF5fvMcb7M— Amanda Guthrie (@whattheplucked) June 7, 2017And Sinyangwe himself summed it up perfectly with his tweet:2016 was a choice between a white woman benefitting from black prison labor and a white man campaigning on sending black people to prison.— Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) June 7, 2017All of this really just adds another “tick” to the column of problematic actions and words on the Clintons’ record.Even though Hillary Clinton attempted to reach out to the black community during her presidential campaigns, we can’t forget her infamous “superpredator” term, the coke/crack cocaine disparity during Bill Clinton’s term and Hillary Clinton’s outward support of her husband’s controversial 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, just to name a few.Overall, no need for glorifying when the truth is just an open book...

As soon as I had a say, I began spending my birthdays alone. I was born in the thick of fall, so crisp air, blood orange leaves and warm beverages became the pace I adopted. While others fished for birthday wishes, I avoided them. Where birthday cake and special dinners gave others joy, I prefered to spend my day reading with a cup of cider. I took my birthdays as a personal day to myself; I always had. Until college, where I met Sam. Imagine a six-foot-four-inch 230-pound goofball. I take pride in my charisma and how I interact, but I wasn't touching this guy. He could effortlessly move a room. One second he'd have you laughing and in another, he'd be leading a thought-provoking intellectual conversation. When my grandfather died he was the first person to comfort me. When I needed transportation to work, he was the first to lend his car. When I didn't know where to turn with my frustrations, he never shooed me away.Sam and I shared a thirst for knowledge, the same taste in women and also nearby birthdays. On the 6th and 7th of November respectively. Soon, the kid you might have caught sitting alone on a campus park bench journaling, was celebrating birthdays back to back with his new best pal. With all our similarities coupled with the positivity and how we enriched each other's lives, sharing birthdays seemed like a seal of fate. We were supposed to be friends forever. AwakeningWhen I graduated in 2014, it didn't feel like goodbye. We already determined that we were going to be in each other's weddings, so it was unthinkable that our four-year institution would be the ceiling for us.But then I began to change.I don’t know why the increase of unarmed blacks being gunned down by police reached a societal tipping point around the time I left my predominantly white institution, but it just so happened to work out that way. Although Trayvon Martin was slain in 2012, it seemed like the coverage, frequency and, to be honest, the reality of the epidemic didn't really sink in for me until Mike Brown in 2014, after I left the school. And it didn't stop there. 37 percent of unarmed people killed by police in 2015 were black despite only making up 13 percent of the U.S. population and 34 percent of unarmed people killed in 2016 were black males, despite making up only 6 percent of the U.S. population. How could I not be affected?I can still remember it clear as day, sitting Indian style like a four-year-old in front of Saturday morning cartoons, flipping between Fox and CNN, completely engrossed. It had only been a couple of days after receiving my diploma when St. Louis police robbed Mike Brown of a chance receiving his, and all I could do was watch.Slow, very patient tears began to find themselves a home in the corner of my eyes as I saw droves of parents, teens and community leaders flooding the streets. Waves of disbelief, anger, grief and fatigue all waged war on my senses as I fought back the urge to ugly cry. I was cold towards my mom's comfort. It wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't what I needed. The pain was raw and new, and I needed to feel it fully. As was the same for Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Sandra Bland and so on in the years that followed. Each taking their toll on me, yet shaping me, at the same time.See, although I went to a majority white private Christian university in the dead south of Tennessee, I still managed to find real friends who looked out for me. Call it ignorance, blindness or whatever you may see fit, but the types of conversations that Mike Brown, the black lives matters movement and Kaepernick sparked just did not take place when I was in school. I didn't pick up on the microaggressions and the flagrantly problematic speech I often heard them use (like, being the “whitest black guy” they knew). And as the veil was slowly drawn from my eyes, I saw myself as a bridge, as a possible light maybe, to get them to see what I had. I knew it was going to take some time — it’s hard seeing how you look on the outside from an inside perspective — but I figured with enough articles and discussion, a breakthrough was possible. After all, they were good people and even better friends. I needed them to “get it”. And even if all of them didn't, I expected for Sam to.In my mind, It wasn't too late. I had more or less two years to hopefully get him to see why he and our friends' way of thought were detrimental, and I gave myself until election day to get it done. November 8th, 2016Before election day hit, I already knew. Our birthdays felt different. While we normally spent them together, even coming back to our alma mater post grad for tradition, we hadn't linked that year. Talks between us had gotten more heated, too. We were at odds about Kaepernick's silent protest, the blue lives vs. black lives vs. all lives debate, and I couldn't get him to see why the Washington Redskins name and logo was/is offensive.It was all tiresome.The 6th of November passed and I didn't get a call from him. The 7th followed and we spoke briefly, trading birthday wishes and good luck. And on the 8th, when he told me he voted for Trump, all communication ceased. Politics Vs. WorldviewWhat’s to be said about someone who lets politics ruin a friendship? Some may argue that politics is your worldview. That, who you believe deserves rights and how you think the world should be is directly associated with where you place your vote.I disagree.Humanity is too complex to blanketly assign to a political affiliation; one’s worldview can’t be separated into parties. Your friends won’t always align with your passions either. Your philosophy on life is shaped by who raised you, where you’re from, what you’ve seen and what you’ve done. It’s easy to think that where one identifies politically is a reflection of their humanity, but it’s much deeper than that. So, keeping all that in mind, I didn't indict them or him, I just created distance.  Common GroundA wise man once told me that if it takes politics to discover a non-negotiable quality in a person you've been friends with, then you have a bad gauge of character. Plenty of good people voted for Trump. It’s misdirected anger and counter-productive energy to think anyone who picks Trump is a villain and not deserving of any friendship whatsoever. I mean, Hillary was not a great second choice either. The Clinton family help fund the surge of private prison industry where many African-American fathers remain still. It just so happened that ties were conveniently severed in 2015, right before an election year. Politics is such a small tip of the iceberg that is humanity. Another wise man once told me that friendships end when common ground is lost. A part of that is people changing and another part of that is life moving in different directions. Both of which are not bad things at all. And that's what I realized: I changed immensely since college and now, Sam, myself and the majority of my conservative friends no longer share common ground. As much as it pains me to admit, I wasn't as exposed to what was happening in my community and to people that looked like me in college when Sam and I were close, and I don't know if we would have remained close had I been. I need the closest people to me to be able to sympathize with my sensibilities. I can’t break bread with someone who plays semantics when arguing black lives matter vs. all lives matter, or who is bothered by the protesting of the national anthem. I can’t go to the gym or be vulnerable with someone who put economics over integrity or who can’t grasp the complexity of black on black crime. My sensitivity to these issues had become too great. Am I saying abandon these people? No. I just can’t consider them allies. It's a tough pill to swallow to admit that one of the closest people to you, someone who you held to your hip and who you revered, cannot grasp your sensibilities. I felt betrayed. I felt naive. I felt low. However, it would be amiss not to be appreciative for Sam. Or for Trump. Without them, I would never understand the multi-faceted microcosm of American politics, nor have the heart to hope for change. Through both of them, I was able to understand that politics help spark the necessary discussion that spark necessary change, and that no matter what side you're on, there's a responsibility we inevitably have to one another if we want this thing called America to work. I'm not saying Sam and I will never speak again, or that I'm going to go down my phone's contact list and delete everyone with opposing views, but there is no room for him, or anyone with those beliefs, to have close proximity to me. I live with a different purpose, with a different common ground and I hope they can see that. As I think back on how I changed, the more it seems that I knew who I was all along. There will be no more joint birthdays for me. It's back to solitude, reflection and simple...

There is still hope out there that President-elect Donald Trump will not be our Commander-in-Chief come January 20.Some have taken to Change.org to create a petition, asking the Electoral College electors to "make Hillary Clinton president on December 19th." The petition reads, "If they all vote the way their states voted, Donald Trump will win. However, they can vote for Hillary Clinton if they choose. Even in states where that is not allowed, their vote would still be counted, they would simply pay a small fine. which we can be sure Clinton supporters will be glad to pay!"They think that the electors can reverse all of this. "Hillary won the popular vote. The only reason Trump 'won' is because of the Electoral College. But the Electoral College can actually give the White House to either candidate. So why not use this most undemocratic of our institutions to ensure a democratic result?"We spoke with the folks at Change.org about the petition. Despite the petition acquiring over 4,300,000 signatures at the time that this article was published, it is "not quite the most-signed petition on Change.org of all-time," Michael Jones, Change.org's North America Managing Director, told Blavity. "It's close, and is the most-signed one this year. But there are two other petitions from the past that have slightly more signatures. That said, the signature numbers on the electoral college petition are impressive, and at the pace they're going, I wouldn't be surprised if this eclipses these other two."Jones says he's not surprised by how the petition has been performing, saying, "This one has become explosive in a way that is incredible and in many ways unprecedented. But given the level of interest in this election and the contention of the race where you have one candidate winning the Electoral College and another winning the popular vote, it's not surprising to see this organizing. It's actually refreshing, and a sign that even after the most high-profile elections, at the end of the day it all comes down to everyday people, power and the work that citizens do to keep their voices heard, and not just every four years when they have to cast a ballot."Meanwhile, some lawmakers are wanting to abolish the Electoral College to prevent this from happening again.NEW: @SenatorBoxer introduces bill to abolish Electoral College, calling it an "outdated, undemocratic system" pic.twitter.com/amXLNygocm— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 15, 2016What do you think of the Electoral College? Needed or outdated? Let us know in the comments! Loving Blavity's articles? Sign up for our daily...