Clinton Foundation Received Up To $81m From Clients Of Controversial HSBC Bank - Guardian

[WillyT]

Clinton foundation received up to $81m from clients of controversial HSBC bank
Paul Lewis in New York and James Ball in London - Guardian
Tuesday 10 February 2015 06.00 EST


Bill Clinton, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton speak during a student conference for the Clinton Global Initiative University in March 2014. Photograph: Matt York/AP

<snip>

The charitable foundation run by Hillary Clinton and her family has received as much as $81m from wealthy international donors who were clients of HSBC’s controversial Swiss bank. Leaked files from HSBC’s Swiss banking division reveal the identities of seven donors to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation with accounts in Geneva.

They include Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining magnate and one of the foundation’s biggest financial backers, and Richard Caring, the British retail magnate who, the bank’s internal records show, used his tax-free Geneva account to transfer $1m into the New York-based foundation.

Hillary Clinton has expressed concern over growing economic inequality in the US and is expected to make the issue a cornerstone of her widely anticipated presidential campaign in 2016. However, political observers are increasingly asking whether the former secretary of state’s focus on wealth inequality sits uncomfortably with the close relationships she and her husband have nurtured with some of the world’s richest individuals.

Giustra’s Swiss HSBC account, created in 2002, contained up to $10m in the 2006-2007 period. Lawyers for the mining magnate said that he held the account for investment purposes, and that it was in compliance with Canadian laws that required disclosure of foreign assets.

Caring was legitimately permitted to keep his assets offshore by a hereditary quirk of UK tax law, under which he is registered as “non-domiciled”, courtesy of his Italian-American father. The HSBC records suggest Caring’s $1m donation was paid in return for former president Bill Clinton’s attendance at a lavish costume charity ball organised by Caring in St Petersburg, Russia.

Another Clinton foundation donor who had a HSBC account in the tax haven is Jeffrey Epstein, the hedge fund manager and convicted sex offender who once flew the former president on his private jet for charity events in Africa. The identities of Clinton supporters who banked with HSBC in Geneva are contained in internal bank data leaked by a HSBC computer expert turned whistleblower, Hervé Falciani.

The leaked files have now been obtained through an international collaboration of news outlets, including the Guardian, the French daily Le Monde, CBS’s 60 Minutes and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

<snip>

More: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/10/hillary-clinton-foundation-donors-hsbc-swiss-bank

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. I wonder what the quo was that earned them the quid. nt

[Divernan]

2. The corporate quid is in anticipation of future political quo.

Yes it may have officially been claimed to be a gift/donation to a non-profit - but that is the same non-profit which foots the undisclosed salaries and perks for all three Clintons, along with their 5 star life style while traveling. The article refers to Bill's appearance at a "lavish costume charity ball" in St. Petersburg - all travel and living expenses for Bill, plus his entourage of handlers to be written off as charitable contributions.

And that $70 million of personal wealth accumulated by the Clintons since they left the White House? That is in reality $70 million of investments meant to be paid off with political favors.

Giustra’s Swiss HSBC account, created in 2002, contained up to $10m in the 2006-2007 period. Lawyers for the mining magnate said that he held the account for investment purposes

Get it? I-N-V-E-S-T-M-E-N-T, with every reasonable expectation of a very favorable return on each dollar.

A bunch of slick grifters, the lot of them.

[Scuba]

23. +1,000

[JDPriestly]

79. Meanwhile on the Skid Rows and in the public schools, the parks, the city halls, the

swimming pools, the highways, the public transportation systems, the nursing homes and hospitals, etc. of America, belts are tightening, children are hungry and crowded and wages stagnate.

It's one thing to talk the talk and another to walk the walk, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton.

NAFTA has not helped ordinary Americans.

Walmart has crushed a lot of small businesses.

The repeal of Glass-Steagall was irresponsible.

The "reform" of welfare laws has left a financial hole in the budgets of many of the poor.

And that is not the half of it.

[closeupready]

89. A. Freaking. Men.

Righteous.

[FiveGoodMen]

102. Or, as Sir Humphrey Appleby said on 'Yes, Minister'...

"Gratitude is merely the lively anticipation of favors yet to come."

[blkmusclmachine]

3. ,

,

[HappyMe]

4. Well, well.

Income equality. Alrighty then.

[wyldwolf]

5. Climate Initiative, poverty and AIDS in Africa, disaster relief. Ewwwww!

[msanthrope]

6. Godamn those do-gooders!!! And the Gates people, with their damn free vaccines!!! nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Thumbs up

[rhett o rick]

9. Looks like we get to guess your point. Since the graft is used for a good cause it's acceptable.

But I hope you agree that the expectations from the bank for this generous "donation" (read investment) might not be in the interest of the 99%.

[wyldwolf]

10. two points:

1. Graft: the unscrupulous use of a politician's authority for personal gain.

This was graft how?

2. Yeah, let's just undo all that good stuff and give the money back.

Good luck with your line of attack here. I doubt even Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren would sign on to it.

[rhett o rick]

15. I hope you don't believe that the $81 million won't influence any of HRC's decisions.

I hope you don't believe that this bank, well known for it's criminal activities is giving away $81 million dollars out of the goodness of their black hearts. It's an investment and I bet we can guess where the return will come from.

[wyldwolf]

16. When I have those momentary flashes of pyschic ability

I just check for lottery numbers.

[countryjake]

88. Maybe Sherrod Brown could explain it to you. n/t

[HappyMe]

12. It's strange how the standards change

when it involves the Clintons.

[Phlem]

105. The Turdway and it's tools are here to represent!

There are anti progressives in DU. For Example:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6121016

#100: me: Repeating an idea, ideology, bullshit that's all dressed up with no where to go? That's classic Republican tactic or did you not know that?

Wyldwolf: Sounds like the typical progressive mentality.

#102: me: "Sounds like the typical progressive mentality." I knew you were anti progressive. Thanks for the confirmation.

And we are done.

#104: Wyldwolf: I'm glad you agree.


They are out to promote the Third Way and it's middle class killing policies and tear down any challengers.

Yes the conservative block that lost the midterms for us want to do it again during the presidential elections.

[nichomachus]

24. Our local Mafia don give free food to poor families at Christmas

So, I guess he's really good guy.

[wyldwolf]

33. Incredibly poor comparison

The Clinton didn't extort, steal or murder for the money that saved millions of lives.

Like I said down thread, this is a very foolish line of attack.

[Luminous Animal]

90. That money, in part, forces the Haitian people to live on their knees.

[Divernan]

108. Bill Clinton's shameful Haitian legacy as he facilitates U.S. business expansion

American companies and NGOs continue to receive the lion's share of US aid funding for projects in Haiti four years after the earthquake that levelled the capital Port-au-Prince, despite US government promises to spend more money through local organisations.

The picture at this link says it all - 5 Haitian women working, while Clinton and a bunch of aid workers are standing around.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/datablog/2014/jan/10/haiti-earthquake-us-aid-funding-data

Instead of Bill Clinton’s apology for destroying centuries of rural subsistence livelihood in Haiti with dumped Arkansas rice, as well as dumping US infertile seeds that depleted the land being made meaningful with new shelter and housing and reparations in the form of real investment in sustainable agriculture, the Clintons – one leading USAID, one leading the UN mission in Haiti – are building for profit hotels in Port au Prince and in the North of Haiti.

But worst, over 300 farmers’ family-plots in the Northeast of Haiti were converted into the industrial zone for Korean textile giant Sae-A Trading. The “Korean” factory is built on good agricultural lands taken from Haiti peasants farmers without their approval and further destroys Haiti food sovereignty. ( Video: A Brief History of Haiti that Every American Should Know.)

US citizens are the project’s biggest investor and main owners, not Haiti. The Korean cover is useful to deflect the Clinton and US oligarchs’ intentions. The US one percent, make it a practice to use subcontractors, such as the Korean conglomerate, to deflect and preempt decent US consumer complaints of human rights abuses and unfair labor practices against the giant American companies the complex will service, such as GAP, Wal-Mart, Target and other major US retailers

http://www.ezilidanto.com/zili/2012/03/haiti-red-cross-misuse-quake-monies/

Instead of replacing housing for Haitians, the Clinton Foundation "facilitated" building a luxury hotel for business investors. http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/28/world/americas/haiti-hotel-clinton/index.html

[Luminous Animal]

109. Thank you, so much for your post.

[Divernan]

110. Clintons pushed the most wasteful of US funded Haiti projects.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2013/07/clintons-pushed-most-wasteful-of-u-s-funded-haiti-projects/

Clintons Pushed Most Wasteful of U.S.-Funded Haiti Projects

JULY 02, 2013

Roughly half of the $1.14 billion that the U.S. government allocated to help Haiti recover from the 2010 earthquake has gone to wasteful projects with the single largest chunk—$170.3 million—going to a failed port and power plant adventure heavily promoted by Bill Clinton and the State Department under the leadership if his beloved wife.

Can you say scandal? The former president, who has been heavily involved in distributing Haiti earthquake reconstruction funds, pushed hard for the power plant and port for an industrial park in northern Haiti billed as the centerpiece of the United States’ effort to help the ravaged island nation rebuild. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined her husband in the effort, making several trips to Haiti to promote the project and encourage foreigners to invest in it.

In fact, Bill and Hillary Clinton led a star-studded delegation last year to inaugurate the industrial park, located about 100 miles from Port-au-Prince, tied to the power plant and port. Hollywood actors, a famous fashion designer and a British business magnate joined the Clintons as did high-ranking Obama administration officials such as then Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

Hillary delivered a heart-felt speech saying “we have been united behind a single goal – making investments in this country’s people and your infrastructure that help put Haiti finally on the path to broad-based economic growth with a more vibrant private sector and less dependence on foreign assistance. And we believe that our work here in Haiti and here in the north is beginning to show results.”

Not really, according to a federal audit of the $1.14 billion that Congress approved to help Haiti recover from the powerful earthquake that killed more than 200,000 and left over 1 million homeless. The probe was requested by a Florida congresswoman who chairs the House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee because hundreds of millions have been spent in Haiti with virtually no accountability.

The Clinton-backed power and port venture is the biggest and most expensive failure mentioned in the report. An astounding $170.3 million later, it is years behind schedule, lacks a qualified engineer and has unrealistic timeframes. As a result, planning has been hindered, the report says, and “funding will be insufficient to cover a majority of projected costs.” It will take an additional $117 to $189 million to complete it and it’s unclear whether the Haitian government will be able to find a private sector company willing to finance the remainder of the project.

That means Uncle Sam must come to the rescue or the $170.3 million already wasted on the project will be lost. Either way, U.S. taxpayers get screwed. Besides the scandalous, Clinton-backed power and port experiment, congressional investigators found mismanagement of a crucial housing plan that was supposed to accommodate up to 90,000 Haitians. USAID claims it will only be able to handle 3,200 to 15,900 people at nearly double the original cost of $59 million. That means the cost per house is nearly triple the original estimate, according to the report.

Back to the Clinton prominence in all things Haiti; the United Nations named the former commander-in-chief as a special envoy to the island and his Clinton Foundation has raised $34 million for Haiti since the catastrophic earthquake hit. Additionally, the former president has distributed $54.4 million from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, which was launched shortly after the earthquake. The fund closed in December after distributing the last of the money and claims that it has “helped Haitians create a better future through smart, sustainable economic development” though it acknowledges that “much work remains to be done in Haiti.”

Combined with the U.S. government money and other charities that have raised huge sums for Haiti earthquake recovery, the island has received billions to rebuild. Yet three years later, news report after news report reveals that a large number of Haitians still live in deplorable, shanty town tent cities and an ongoing epidemic of cholera has claimed thousands of lives. Makes you wonder if someone is pocketing the money.

[still_one]

28. some folks here see the name Clinton and go crazy without any idea what the

Clinton foundation does

how this reflects badly on Hillary is beyond me

[99th_Monkey]

53. Epstein is by far the biggest fly in the Clinton Foundation's 'charitable' ointment. nt

[KoKo]

98. Whether its Legal or Not...Some snips of why this just doesn't look good for her campaign

Let's hope that the Money has indeed gone to good causes and that there is proper documentation revealed by the Clinton Foundation forthcoming that it has.

From the Guardian Article:

Minassian did not comment specifically on the foundation’s receipt of $1m from Caring in in December 2005, a donation made in return for Bill Clinton’s attendance, the previous month, at the lavish charity ball in Russia.

Caring arranged for 18th century Russian costumes, borrowed from the Hermitage Museum, to be tailor-fitted for each guest at the event at Catherine the Great’s Winter Palace. Photographs from the event in November 2005 show Bill Clinton, dressed as a Russian general, partying with other VIP guests such as Elizabeth Hurley. Entertainment was provided by Tina Turner and Elton John.

Caring guaranteed funds were raised for the British children’s charity NSPCC and also, courtesy of his personal transfer from the HSBC account in Geneva, the Clinton foundation.

HSBC notes on Caring’s accounts contain an instruction to “transfer [$1m] to Bill Clinton’s Foundation as a contribution following his involvement in the Charity Function [Caring] organised at the end of November”.

---------snip------

Another is Epstein, the wealthy financier who was jailed for 13 months in 2008 for soliciting sex with underage girls. The HSBC files show Epstein connected to several Geneva accounts, one of which was in his own name and contained $3.5m.
He gave $25,000 to the Clinton charity in July 2006, the year after he was arrested following a complaint he sexually abused a 14-year-old teenager in Florida, according to tax disclosures from Epstein’s New York-based nonprofit, the COUQ Foundation.

---------snip-------

Another client of HSBC Geneva to donate to the Clinton foundation is Denise Rich, the ex-wife of the late billionaire and commodities trader Marc Rich, who fled to Switzerland in 1983 after being indicted by US authorities for tax evasion, fraud and racketeering. Mark Rich was was controversially granted a presidential pardon by Bill Clinton just hours before the former president left office in 2001.
Denise Rich contributed as much as $500,000 to the Clinton foundation. Now 70, she is reported to have recently renounced her US citizenship, becoming tax-resident in Austria. She did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/10/hillary-clinton-foundation-donors-hsbc-swiss-bank

[still_one]

100. The Guardian is not a neutral publication.

[KoKo]

104. They didn't make this up...its from the Released Documents...

Check out the full article when you have time...

[Beacool]

69. The willful choice to ignore whatever doesn't fit their views is endemic on this site.

They must not know, or not care, how much pressure the Clinton Foundation exerted on pharmaceutical companies to get them to agree to lower the price of the ARVs that were needed desperately, particularly in Africa.

"At the beginning of the new millennium there was a breakthrough in treatment provision for resource poor areas when an Indian pharmaceutical company started to produce generic antiretrovirals that were exactly the same as those made by large pharmaceutical companies, but significantly cheaper. This sparked a price war between branded and generic drug makers, which forced the large pharmaceutical companies to lower the price of their HIV drugs. This competition, coupled with pressure from activists, organizations - such as the Clinton Foundation - and governments of poor countries with severe HIV epidemics, dramatically reduced the price of ARVs for developing countries. By the middle of 2001, triple combination therapy was available from Indian generic manufacturers for as little as $295 per person per year."

http://www.avert.org/antiretroviral-drug-prices.htm


"Former President Bill Clinton announced yesterday that his foundation had negotiated deep price reductions for generic versions of costly, second-line AIDS drugs needed when the original medicines fail, as well as for less toxic, easier-to-use first-line medicines combined in a pill that can be taken once a day.

Standing next to Thailand’s health minister, Mr. Clinton also forcefully endorsed recent decisions by Thailand and Brazil to break patents held by American pharmaceutical companies that are charging prices Mr. Clinton described as exorbitant, but that drug company officials said were reasonable."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/world/09aidsdrugs.html?_r=0

"The first strategy, procurement arrangements to increase purchase volumes, often involves pooled procurement schemes that group multiple purchasers into a single purchasing unit in the hope that economies of scale will lead to lower prices. A pooled procurement mechanism is currently being developed at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund).2,3

The second large-scale strategy involves third-party consultation and price negotiation with generic ARV suppliers, a practice introduced by the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) in 2003."

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/7/08-058925/en/

[hatrack]

8. Yeppers, craftin' that Populist Message (TM) for 2016!

Craftin' the FUCK out of it, I'm sure.

[rhett o rick]

11. Let's try this message out to see if it's "Populisty" enough, "HSBC loves HRC, so what about you?"

What do you think? Or "If you loved Reagan's trickle-down, you really love H. Clinton's."

[wyldwolf]

13. Or this one

Hillary Clinton's philanthropic foundations saved millions from disease and disaster. Some 'progressives' would like to undo that because they don't like where the money came from. Would you turn down money if it meant saving lives?

Hillary 2016.

[rhett o rick]

17. I can only speak for myself. I want to stop the rampant graft and corruption in Wash DC. nm

[wyldwolf]

18. "I can only speak for myself." Exactly

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. Some folks are so comfortably ensconced they couldn't care less about preventing diseases and such.

[Phlem]

35. Cause you know ALL that money goes to the needy and diseased.

Bridge anyone? I've got several for sale.

[wyldwolf]

39. Can you prove otherwise?

[Phlem]

49. Can you prove it does 100%

oops, see I asked you the same question you asked me. Show me the proof.

[wyldwolf]

50. I'm not making the claim. Oops! Seems the burden of proof is on you.

[Phlem]

52. your also not answering the question.

oops.



Next?

[wyldwolf]

56. Actually the question was posted in #39 by me. You're dodging the questions and diverting

oops.



Next.

[Phlem]

62. I prefer to not talk to lying assholes.

Not saying your one.

[wyldwolf]

65. ok. I'll assume you'll continue speaking to me then.

[nichomachus]

25. So as long as the outcome is good, the method is good

That's one way of thinking about it, but it has real problems.

[HappyMe]

27. Not such a good way to think about it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026207782


It seems to me it should matter where the money comes from.

[wyldwolf]

29. The point is using this as a line of political attack is pointless

And posting it on DU is a line of political attack, meant to sway opinion. Even if Bernie Sanders was in a tight primary race with Clinton, he probably wouldn't pull this out.

[Phlem]

34. Right cause you've NEVER done anything like that.

GMAFB.

What a joke. What did you confess to me last time, that your anti progressive. It shows.

[wyldwolf]

37. Example?

Link?

[Phlem]

40. Sure here you go.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6123504

My comment #102

And your reply #104

[wyldwolf]

43. You made two accusations. Your link doesn't prove either.

ah we have some revealing truth now.... And we are done.

I'm glad we agree.



next?

[Phlem]

45. of course it doesn't

There it is posted for all to see yet

deny, deny, deny, your modus operandi. I have these kinds of discussion with my 8 year old, I refuse to have one with an older child.

Oh I forget your ALWAYS RIGHT and NEVER do anything that you accuse other people of. Yep, your 100% believable, just like some conservatives I know or Hillary.



Next?

[wyldwolf]

47. Then why did you offer it us as 'proof?'

Next?

[Phlem]

51. The why did you offer it us as 'proof?'

what?



next.

I'm sure you need to have the last word so go ahead I have more important things to do than engage a shill.

[wyldwolf]

58. You're avoiding another question

Criticizing someone's spelling or grammar on the internet is the last refuge of someone who doesn't have an argument.

Next.

[appalachiablue]

94. And Charity Begins at Home, right?

[Octafish]

14. Sigh. And all the time I thought they loved UBS.

Since the repeal of Glass-Steagal, Buy Partisan support specializing exclusively in Wealth Management:

http://financialservicesinc.ubs.com/revitalizingamerica/SenatorPhilGramm.html

[nichomachus]

26. The have enough love to embrace all the banksters n/t

[appalachiablue]

95. You bet they love UBS, BFFs of the Clintons, Treasury, Fannie Mae & Wall Street since the 90s.

[betterdemsonly]

19. I think the democrats are trying to throw the election

to the other bank annointed candidate in the GOP. On the off chance Hillary gets in she will be mired in one of these scandals after another. Impeachment will be the issue for the next 10 years.

[still_one]

30. How is this a scandal?

[Beacool]

68. What scandal?

There's nothing illegal about these people donating money to charity.

[mylye2222]

20. Not even surprised.

Another proof of their corporatism...

[WillyT]

21. ;)

[benz380]

31. Glad you stayed. n/t

[Phlem]

32. Gotta love the faithful Ostriches in this thread.

Santa is REAL!

[HappyMe]

54. Hmm..maybe a bit like

The Emperor's New Clothes.

[Phlem]

57. The Clinton foundation.

Whether it's a non profit or not it controls all the money it receives. Some of the most well paid CEO's work for non profits. So yea, the Clinton Foundation is going to cure hunger in America.....wait.

[HappyMe]

61. Years ago I had a job

where you could donate any amount to the United Way, and that amount was taken right out of your check. I looked into it and found that a bunch of the money collected went to pay the top dogs running the charity. I refused to sign the paper and give the money. I thought charity meant....well, charity.

[Phlem]

71. I hear ya bud.

Deception is king in the U.S.

[appalachiablue]

93. That's right, Charity Begins at Home. Though somehow I don't think the USA is in

The Global Village.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

36. More: HSBC could yet be prosecuted over tax-dodging scheme, warns Loretta Lynch/Guardian

Don't you just love "practical politics" from the 3rd Way Clintons?

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/10/hsbc-tax-files-loretta-lynch-prosecution

Barack Obama’s nominee for attorney general, Loretta Lynch, has warned that HSBC could be prosecuted over tax evasion connected to its Swiss subsidiary, despite the controversial agreement she negotiated with the bank two years ago.

In her first remarks since the Guardian and other media obtained a huge cache of leaked data from HSBC Switzerland, Lynch said the Department of Justice would not be constrained from bringing tax evasion charges against the bank if there were sufficient evidence.
US prosecutors weigh criminal charges against HSBC as Elizabeth Warren turns up the heat
Massachusetts senator calls on Department of Justice to ‘come down hard’ on HSBC if beleaguered bank is found to have colluded with tax evaders
Read more

The leaked files from HSBC’s Swiss subsidiary show how the bank colluded with some clients to conceal billions of assets from domestic tax authorities across the world. Lynch, who has yet to be confirmed by the Senate, is under pressure to explain what action the DoJ has taken since obtaining the data leak five years ago.

Lynch said in a letter to the Republican chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, Chuck Grassley, that the deal she reached with HSBC in 2012 “does not provide [the bank] any protection against prosecution for conduct” outside of the terms of that settlement, which was specifically about money-laundering and sanctions breaches.

[Jefferson23]

38. Not surprising, not at all. n/t

[bobthedrummer]

41. K&R n/t

[olddots]

42. Hillary reminds me of Jane Harmon

N.T.

[AtomicKitten]

44. For years, the foundation ran in the red with lavish spending.

The $81 million may just be chump change in the bigger scheme of things for the foundation.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/us/politics/unease-at-clinton-foundation-over-finances-and-ambitions.html?pagewanted=all

[quadrature]

46. when is tax-avoidance acceptable?

for the rich?
for members of a certain political party(which one)?

for the record, I assume that the BHC.C foundation
does do some philanthropy, but a travel budget
of 8 million a year for three people is too much.

[Phlem]

70. you're not supposed to say that.

Everything's peachy keen and on the up and up Regarding Hillary Clinton, just like the TPP.

[Demeter]

48. Surprise! Surprise!

NOT

[Marr]

55. This woman does not have a chance in a national election.

The public is more angry with Wall Steet and the big banks than ever, and she's got a long, loooong track record with them. She's an easy target, covered with a million potential scandals.

[Phlem]

64. I bet you it will the ignorant public's fault for not voting for her according to some here

not because the facts are that nobody like her and doesn't trust her. Noooooo. Because it hasn't expressed over and over and fucking over again.

[Marr]

78. If the past is any indication, yep.

It's not the tiny, unpopular political faction's fault-- it's the fault of the whole fucking country for not liking that tiny, unpopular faction.

[appalachiablue]

96. You may be correct, unfortunately. It's a real mess.

[ColesCountyDem]

59. I'm not thrilled about Secretary Clinton, but in all fairness, how is this her scandal?

Foundations get money from rich people-- it's how they work. Furthermore, I'm unaware of any that ask the donor the source of his/her funds.

[wyldwolf]

66. It isn't. Some just want it to be.

[ColesCountyDem]

77. She's not my first choice, but drive-by smears like this article are deplorable!

I may not vote for Secretary Clinton in the primary here in IL, but if she gains the nomination, she will have 100% of my support. Articles like the one in the OP are what I would expect from the GOP.

[Phlem]

80. Have you any knowledge of the third way?

.....

[ColesCountyDem]

81. No, I was completely brain-dead, until yesterday.

[Phlem]

83. Ah I see.

So Hillary's OK with you then. Nuff said.

[ColesCountyDem]

87. Did you bother to read all of my posts?

Obviously not. Please do so, before taking me to task.

[Phlem]

92. yes I did. Sorry.

I just function at a faster speed than most but in my opinion she will be the death of the Democratic party. You have your own opinion and neither of us are right till it actually happens. I researched the Third Way to death after the midterms. It still feels a little fresh. I hope you have a good evening.

[ColesCountyDem]

97. Thank you!

You have a good one, too. Peace.

[Phlem]

60. Could also apply to the Third Way.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017244272

[stonecutter357]

63. .

[Beacool]

67. Blah, blah, blah, here's the daily "let's bash the Clintons" post.

Donors who were clients of HSBC’s Swiss bank donated $81M to the Clinton Foundation, so? A foundation that has helped to save lives and has worked for the betterment of millions of people around the globe. Who do you all think donates to these foundations, the poor? Foundations and other charitable institutions are kept afloat by the money donated by the wealthy. Ever attend a charity ball?

There's a difference between donating money to a good cause and financing a political campaign.

[WillyT]

82. Believe What You Must... But There's A Whole Lot More Coming...

If Hillary is indeed... "Inevitable"...

Better to expose the negative stories as they come out, so they can be defended against... like you just did.

[Beacool]

99. The ones calling Hillary "inevitable" are her opponents.

Her supporters know better. She'll have to fight for the nomination just like any other candidate. Goodness knows that she gets attacked by the Left as much as by the Right.

[rhett o rick]

91. "Donors who were clients of HSBC’s Swiss bank donated $81M to the Clinton Foundation, so?"

So what do they want in return? And where will it come from.

The Clinton's have always been in very tight with the Bankers, to the exclusion of the 99%.

[madville]

72. As long as Hillary wins the primary

It won't matter who wins the general election, Wall Street benefits either way.

[Phlem]

74. Isn't it amazing that people refuse to acknowledge that and even double down against it.

[Phlem]

73. Yep.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016114042


But I'm sure it's purely coincidental because you know, the kids and diseases. HSBC's donation was a well intentioned gift to help the least of us cause that's what banks and the Clinton foundation do.

[Phlem]

75. and the TPP will be a unicorn skipping on a rainbow shitting skittles.

because you know sick kids, the poor, and climate change.

[joshcryer]

76. FDR was far wealthier.

And had similar smears.

[RiverLover]

84. Seriously, she needs to go away, not take the reins. nt

[wyldwolf]

85. kick for fun

[countryjake]

86. K&R!

[still_one]

101. For those who have no idea what the Clinton Foundation is, maybe this will help

https://www.clintonfoundation.org

[Phlem]

106. Of course. What else are they going to put on the landing page?

We promote Thirdway policies and detrimental labor practices, we also support outsourcing, H-1B visa's and off shoring?

It's called Public Relations.

[still_one]

111. So you are saying it is a front and a lie. You don't need proof though because it has Clinton in

Name, right?

[Phlem]

112. No, I'm saying understand your media and how to read it.

Just because it's got all those great things on the front certainly doesn't represent the whole picture of the company. There are many well paid CEO's that work @ non profits. A well run company is certainly going to spend tons on image, not just helping the down and out.

Who know's maybe they're trying to make up for NAFTA.

[emulatorloo]

103. No fan of HRC. However this is a non-scandal "scandal"

Lots of assholes give money to charity.

Their are many arguments to be made against Clinton's policy positions. But AFAIK Clinton Foundation does good work

[obnoxiousdrunk]

107. I'll never vote for

Bill Clinton again.