Monday, April 20, 2015

Why is the Clinton Foundation taking money from countries that treat women as second class citizens?

We learned that Tina Brown, a well known and outspoken feminist, punted on the issue.  She seemed uncomfortable tackling the stories about the Clintons and some of the countries who invest in their Foundation.
Amy Chozick of the New York Times reports that Republicans are highlighting that the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation “has accepted tens of millions of dollars in donations from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Algeria and Brunei — all of which the State Department has faulted over their records on sex discrimination and other human-rights issues.”
Republicans are seizing on this issue in the hope of undermining Clinton’s reputation as an advocate for women and girls both at home and abroad.”
This is a fair question and every Democrat should be required to answer it.
Some of these countries are also very “gay unfriendly”.
Let’s hope that Hillary Clinton, and other Democrats, are confronted with these questions.


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You don’t need another book to prove that the Clintons are unethical

As the world turns, we hear of another book connecting the Clintons, cash and special favors.
According to Amy Chozik, the new book is “Clinton Cash“:
““We will see a pattern of financial transactions involving the Clintons that occurred contemporaneous with favorable U.S. policy decisions benefiting those providing the funds,” Mr. Schweizer writes.”
We will wait for the book, and the details.   At the same time, I don’t need a book to persuade me that the Clintons love cash and doing favors for those who fund them.
Let me say this:
Why would anyone give money to The Clinton Foundation to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake?   Why not go directly to the many religious and non-profit organizations, such as Catholic Charities?
Why give money to a group headed by an ex president married to the current Secretary of State?   The answer is that they were buying attention and something else.
Moral of the story:  Ex-presidents should retire, open a library and attend their favorite sporting events.   They have no business asking other leaders for money, specially if they are married to a Secretary of State.
P.S. You can hear my show (CantoTalk) or follow me on Twitter.

Tags: A new book about Clinton cash  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

Hope that You Didn’t have to Call Anyone in Rio

The Brazil crisis, situation, or whatever else you want to call it, got very interesting over the last few days. Check out this from Reuters via the New York Times:
The state government of Rio de Janeiro, which is feverishly preparing for next year’s Olympic Games, has failed to pay its phone and Internet bills, triggering a cutoff in service, the phone company responsible said on Friday. 
The company, Oi, said it had cut the lines after the state government racked up $55.7 million in unpaid Internet and telephone bills due over three years ago. 
As Rio de Janeiro State pays for a number of large infrastructure projects in time for the Olympics, its tax revenue has fallen along with a drop in the price of oil. 
The cuts to the lines do not affect vital services like fire protection, schools or hospitals, Oi said. 
A spokesman for the state government contested the debt figure and said Oi also owed the state money. 
Of course, all of this comes on top of marches and more marches. There is awful anger over the corruption and economy. The marches are growing and getting louder as reported by Donna Bowater:
Fabio Ostermann, a political scientist who backed the Free Brazil Movement (MBL), said: 
“We need to show them that Brazil is no longer a country where politicians can do whatever they want without suffering the consequences.
“Dilma no longer has political, legal or especially moral conditions to occupy the presidency of the republic. It’s time for impeachment or surrender.”
Mr Ostermann conceded that the protests attracted less support in absolute numbers than the last nationwide demonstration on March 15 but said the movement had spread to more cities.
Wonder how all of this is going to impact the Olympics coming next year? A Brazilian friend in Dallas said a couple of interesting things:
1) The marches will get bigger and louder as the games get closer. He believes, and I agree, that marchers will get the attention of many international journalists about to arrive in the country; and,
2) He is less and less confident that President Dilma Rouseff will survive. In other words, she’s just a little too close to the corruption. She’s also very unlucky as the economy gets worse and worse.
I’m sure that this is not what the Brazilian political class had in mind when they worked so hard to bring the games to their country.  
What a situation, or “Que situcao” as they say in Portuguese.   
P.S. You can hear my show (CantoTalk) or follow me on Twitter.

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Iran, Iraq, Yemen and other issues with Bill Katz



Tags: Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Clinton 2016, GOP 2016 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!