NYT: Clinton Should Cut Ties To Foundation NOW

The Gray Lady Weighs in:

NY Times Editorial

Cutting Ties to the Clinton Foundation

It says what everyone has been saying:

The Clinton Foundation has become a symbol of the Clintons’ laudable ambitions, but also of their tangled alliances and operational opacity. If Mrs. Clinton wins, it could prove a target for her political adversaries. Achieving true distance from the foundation is not only necessary to ensure its effectiveness, it is an ethical imperative for Mrs. Clinton.

A wiser course would be to ban contributions from foreign and corporate entities now. If Mrs. Clinton wins, Bill and Chelsea Clinton should both end their operational involvement in the foundation and its affiliates for the duration of her presidency, relinquishing any control over spending, hiring and board appointments.

What is she waiting for?

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This is all theater. Whether the Clintons are running the foundation or not they are in charge and don't forget it.

Also, they need a job and power base for Chelsea so there is no way she is going away. The Clinton's, through their foundation have taken the art of political graft and corruption to never before seen levels.

My guess is if they are forced to abandon the foundation they will put Obama in charge. Yes you read that right, that could be what they bought him off with

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They don't want to give up all that lovely money!

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Hillbilly Dem's picture

I've got a coronation to worry about! Oval Office drapes need to be measured. Let's see, Barack used Rick "Purpose Driven Life" Warren for his invocation, so I can't use him. Huma, stop crying and get Joel "Money Driven Life" Osteen on the phone. See if he's busy on January 20th. And yes, tell Blankfein that he's in as MFIC* at Treasury, but there is that little matter of the "honorarium" to the Clinton Foundation.

*acronym used intentionally in consideration of those of tender sensibility.

http://www.internetslang.com/MFIC-meaning-definition.asp

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"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

Citizen Of Earth's picture

"if I am elected, I will look into cutting ties to the foundation" (paraphrased)
Don't you trust her?! Man you people have trust issues. /snark

Oh yeah, she also said Chelsea will take over. Like that changes anything. Hhaha

PS. The pay for access of the Clinton Foundation is a crystal ball into a Hellery presidency. What are her supporters not getting about this? There are some dumb ass people in this country.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Hillbilly Dem's picture

when he says that Hillary supporters refuse to admit that they are wrong about anything Hillary-related. He sees it as almost sociopathic. Any disagreement or challenge is met with every imaginable charge, ranging from conspiracy theory (a favorite) to misogyny.

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"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

snoopydawg's picture

separate from her duties as secretary of state. Oops, she must have forgotten.
Does anyone even know what the foundation does to help people? Of course we have heard about the give AIDS drugs to people in Africa but what does this part mean?

that focuses on fighting childhood obesity, addressing the effects of global climate change and creating economic growth.

If you go to their website, this is the type of word salad that is describing what the foundation does.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

MsGrin's picture

but am feeble at searching & pasting on my phone. The obesity program boils down (according to an article I read) to supporting McDonald's in having less caloric choices on their menu in some stores. That's it, according to what I read. The Foundation had no part in the policy or implementation... it's essentially random.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

MsGrin's picture

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Releasing her transcripts?

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MsGrin's picture

Clearly, she's not focussing w/o assistance.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

... still too busy looking for those bank speech transcripts. It's a lot harder to find these, since I wiped my server. But i'm still looking into it, trust me!

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Bollox Ref's picture

laudable

?

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

You could check out Richard Cohen's column in the washington post today for a humorous take on the foundation donations.

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MsGrin's picture

Clinton Foundation alchemy — turning bribes into gifts

https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrishamby/the-billion-dollar-ultimatum?utm_ter...

Here's the deal, though (which he gets to) - WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THE DONORS GOT all we know is that they apparently did not get what we suspected they would get... We do not know that they did not get something else INSTEAD (or hope to get at some point).

Best portion: "There is precious little that’s charitable about the world of charity. Raising money, like sausage-making, ain’t pretty to see, and it would be just criminally naive to rely on the big hearts of big donors. Much is bartered — access, recognition, social standing, proximity to the star at a dinner, a call afterward and, unspoken, the promise of influence if influence is needed. The Clintons knew exactly what was happening — a kind of alchemy in which potential bribes were turned into innocent gifts, leaving everyone with clean hands and, inevitably, the noxious odor of scandal."

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

k9disc's picture

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/clinton-foundation-alchemy--turn...

The link in the comment is a good article though...

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Oh, come on! "IF" is a conditional word which sets up a tit-for-tat transaction. Hill makes it sound like a threat coming from an entitled brat, which is what she is. "LOOK INTO" is lawyer-speak for "never in a million years". With the Clintons, words always slither around, looking for the nearest exit.

The very serious "papers of record" and "respected journals" are going all upstanding with editorials imploring the grifters to give up the Foundation because, although it does so much good, the hint of impropriety has non-good optics. Are they all that dumb or just pretending the Foundation isn't the biggest money-laundering and tax dodge slush fund since Tammany Hall?

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for the NYT to be simultaneously sanctimonious and ineffectual. They've gotten very good at that. The trick is to hold your nose high in the air as you slog through the muck.

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native

Oldest Son Of A Sailor's picture

Board Meeting with Donors...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avtZJKydB-E]

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"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."

~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,

If people are not on the up and up, even shutting it down won't help though. You can stop Clinton and Chelsea and her husband from picking up speaking fees and you can't stop Hillary and her co-Presidents from being grateful.

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ThoughtfulVoter's picture

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/08/29/hillary-and-the-clinton-foundatio...

In a hilariously pig-headed, but rather telling, statement, former President Bill Clinton responded to allegations of impropriety with the Clinton Foundation by saying, “We’re trying to do good things…If there’s something wrong with creating jobs and saving lives, I don’t know what it is. The people who gave the money knew exactly what they were doing. I have nothing to say about it except that I’m really proud.”

Leaving aside the fact that such an arrogant comment demonstrates Bill Clinton’s complete contempt for ethics and the basic standards of proper conduct, the salient point is that the argument from the Clintons is that the foundation is inherently good, that it helps people around the world, and that, as such, it can’t possibly be corrupt and unethical. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire – except when it comes to the Clintons who stand proudly enveloped in billowing clouds of smoke swearing up and down that not only is there no fire, but anyone who mentions the existence of flames is both a sexist and Trump-loving Putin stooge.

But indeed there is a fire, and it is raging on the American political scene. And nowhere is the heat more palpable than in the deserts of the Middle East where wealthy benefactors write massive checks for access to America’s 21st Century Queen of Mean (apologies to Leona Helmsley).

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WoodsDweller's picture

She's waiting for the checks to clear. The time between the November election and her inauguration will see an unheard-of influx of cash to the foundation, probably multiple billions. Those who pay get to play. Everyone, and I mean everyone, who wants to play will pay.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

MsGrin's picture

certainly - see, those who donate really did get access! Couldn't be more perfect timing to release that information.

And, yes, I was being facetious asking what they are waiting for - they are waiting for that moment when they are stuffed to the gills and cannot be more full with the graft (or until the pitchforks show up smashing through the gates).

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Jesus fucking Christ. The Times has become contemptible.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Alex Ocana's picture

I have in my hand the annual reports of both the Clinton Foundation and the Carter Foundation.

Here is a snippet from the Clinton Foundation:

INDUSTRY AGREEMENT MILESTONES

Over the past two years, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation
has continued to engage some of America’s leading food and
beverage companies to increase access to healthier options.
Building on the success of its previous effort to remove calories
from beverages sold in schools across the U.S. by 90 percent,
in 2014 the Alliance negotiated a new voluntary agreement
with the American Beverage Association, The Coca-Cola
Company
, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, and PepsiCo to reduce
beverage calories consumed per person nationally by 20
percent by 2025. This effort will allow the beverage companies
to leverage their marketing, innovation, and distribution
strength to increase and sustain consumer interest in and
access to beverage options
in order to help consumers reduce
the calories they consume. Additionally, the Alliance worked
with 14 food companies and group purchasing organizations
to expand industry school agreements already in place with
the Alliance to the out-of-school time environment, and added
General Mills as a partner to all existing agreements. Finally, in
2013 the Alliance joined with McDonald’s to increase customers’
access to fruit and vegetables and help families and children
make informed choices in keeping with healthy, balanced
lifestyles
.

More later.

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From the Light House.

Tone-deaf Michelle went all White House garden demonstration project during the worst effects of the Great Recession, when homeless families went hungry while living in their cars. While hunger stalked the land, Michelle's answer was "we have an obesity epidemic and should eat more veggies and cut out soft drinks". Bet her servants planted that damned garden, which was featured in many glossy magazine spreads.

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Many don't realize the multifarious ways in which the Foundations (there are several) help the Clintons hoover up the wealth of nations. Aside from getting donations for access and favors, they enable the Clintons to "donate" their speech money back to foundation coffers and avoid paying income taxes. Neat, huh? They also enable Bill to help his rich buddies set up tax-avoidance schemes in foreign countries via shell companies (Panama Papers) and get in on the lucrative developmental, rebuilding, charity scams in disaster (Haiti) and war-torn areas (thanks to the Mad Bomber Hillary). Whatever happened to the Panama Papers anyway? Disappeared along with Hill's yoga emails?

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riverlover's picture

I still think yoga was a code word, maybe for arms deals.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Y = your
O = order
G = got
A = accepted

Have a nice day Smile $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

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MsGrin's picture

It turns out there are two foundation entities in the Clinton name. One is the main foundation we've all been focused on. Then there is ALSO the Clinton Family Foundation, which we know is a separate entity because it is listed as a donor on the main foundation website as having given between 45 and $10 mil: https://www.clintonfoundation.org/contributors?category=%245%2C000%2C001...

Obviously, it serves tax purposes for them and who knows what else?

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

initiatives and untold number of "corporate partnerships". There's the Canadian entity the Clintons launder foreign donations through, just in case Obama decides to get "tough" on them and apply RICCO laws (yeah, right). Honestly, the entire apparatus reminds me of an octopus that keeps growing new tentacles. See Frank Norris "The Octopus".

I found a mind-blowing rundown on a conservative site, the only kind of sites telling the truth lately:

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/funderprofile.asp?fndid=5382category=79

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MsGrin's picture

...and link didn't work for me, either, unfortunately.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Just try Wikipedia article, which is thorough but not exhaustive:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Foundation

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