Tag: Hillary Clinton

Who Shot Rep. Scalise?

Image: ABC 13

Just a few days ago, a gunman opened fire on a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia. The gunman was soon identified by the FBI as James T. Hodgkinson, a sixty-six year-old from Illinois.

James T. Hodgkinson was a resident of Belleville, Illinois, and a very staunch Democrat. His Facebook page contained several critical posts of President Donald J. Trump. In one, Donald Trump was described as a “traitor” who “has destroyed our democracy.” The Facebook account’s banner had an image of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a notable candidate in the Democratic primaries of the 2016 presidential election. His profile picture had the American flag and said, “Democratic Socialism explained in 3 words: We the People.”

Michael Hodgkinson, the shooter’s brother, said in a phone interview to the New York Times, “I know he wasn’t happy with the way things were going, the election results and stuff.”

A man by the name of Charles Orear told The Washington Post that he met Hodgkinson when they worked together in Iowa on Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign. He had described Hodgkinson as “very mellow, very reserved” and a “quiet guy.”

He was this union tradesman, pretty stocky, and we stayed up talking politics.

Former Mayor of Alexandria Bill Euille told the Washington Post he spoke to Hodgkinson almost every morning at the local YMCA which is so close to the baseball field where the shooting occurred that one of the bullets landed in the indoor pool.

He was a very nice person. [H]e sat in the Y’s lobby for hours and hours. Outside of myself, I don’t think he knew anyone else in town.

Hodgkinson owned a home inspection business in Belleville, Illinois, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Hodgkinson was a licensed home inspector from 1994 to 1997, and also held a liscense from 2003 to 2016, but it was never renewed.

According to The Belleville News-Democrat:

Hodgkinson has a varied arrest record in St. Clair County, for offenses such as failing to obtain electrical permits, damaging a motor vehicle, resisting a peace officer, eluding police, criminal damage to property, driving under the influence and assorted traffic offenses.

According to The Daily Beast:

In 2006, he was arrested for domestic battery and discharge of a firearm after he punched a man’s girlfriend “in the face with a closed fist,” according to a police report reviewed by The Daily Beast. When the man walked outside of the residence, Hodgkinson aimed a shotgun at him and later fired one round.

Hodgkinson was also “observed throwing” an unidentified minor “around the bedroom,” the police report said. Police identified the girl as his daughter. After the girl broke free, Hodgkinson followed and “started hitting her arms, pulling her hair, and started grabbing her off the bed.”

When Hodgkinson’s girlfriend tried to leave in a vehicle, he reached inside and “turned off the ignition,” the report said. “James then pulled out a possible pocket knife and cut [her] seatbelt.”

The charges were dismissed, according to court records.

James T. Hodgkinson was a prolific writer who often submitted letters to his local newspaper for more than a decade.

After learning that Hodgkinson had volunteered on the Sanders campaign, Sen. Bernie Sanders publicly detested his actions and any acts of violance.

Let me be as clear as I can be. Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. Real change can only come about through nonviolent action, and anything else runs against our most deeply held American values.

Dangers of Fake News

Image: Snopes

Have you ever mindlessly scrolled through your Twitter feed and encountered an intriguing, eye-catching article? Many of us have seen it through a variety of social media outlets, however, what most do not realize is that these articles contain false or misleading information used to skew public opinion or gain profit. Fake news is rapidly gaining popularity, and it must come to an immediate end.

What Is Fake News?

Our world has increasingly evolved technology for years. With this new technology and new avenues for expressing ideas, comes an overwhelming freedom to publish any sort of content at any time. Although this privilege can be a tremendously positive aspect, it can also be quite damaging. A prime example of this damaging behavior has recently gained popularity by internet scammers who publish fake news or unreliable information on the web for millions of people to access. For example, a fraudulent story was recently published that claimed Hillary Clinton, presidential runner-up was operating a child-trafficking business in Washington. Most people after reading the untruthful article could see right through it’s blatant inaccuracy. However, there are many online readers who believe fake news due to ignorance and a lack of the ability to detect the author’s dishonest information.

Where Do Scammers Publish Fake News?

The Internet is a great outlet to effortlessly share information almost instantly. This is why Internet scammers who post fake news gravitate towards the web to post their content. In addition, these authors know that they can appeal to impressionable teens who are the highest percentage of users on the Internet. A common social media application scammers use to publish fake news is on Twitter. Trendy accounts that have thousands, even millions of followers retweet these dishonest articles in exchange for profit. One retweet can be seen by countless teens, which is why Twitter is a commonplace for fake news to be quickly and easily popularized.

How You Can Detect Fake News?

Under the Constitution, people have the right to the freedom of speech. Although it may seem ludicrous that anyone can publish inaccurate content on the Internet, there is no way to abolish it. For this reason, it is crucial that younger, and even older generations remain informed on how to be able to distinguish honest from fake information. To be able to discern an unreliable article, you must fully examine the content before trusting it. First, determine whether the website itself has association with a reputable organization. This can include museums, universities, or historical institutes. Secondly, it is important that you are able to identify a specific author and a bit of information about that individual. Is there a picture of that individual? Did they go to college? Do they have a current profession? These are all essential questions that can confirm the accuracy of the information that author has published. Finally, it is imperative to investigate the content itself. Are there citations for images and information? Are there noticeable flaws in grammar or writing? Lastly, would you have the same confidence in the article as you would with an article from a popular and trustworthy journal?

As our world is changing at an alarming rate, it is vital that Internet users are aware of the dangers and deceptions that come along with the web. Fake news is a despicable way for authors to gain popularity, and must be prevented before it becomes out of hand. You can help the end to fake news by making others aware and being aware yourself. By doing so, you can help the Internet develop into a more reliable place.

Secret CIA Assessment Shows that Russia had Influenced our Election

Image: Inquisitr

For awhile now, before the eighth of November, we all heard the rumors about Russia attempting to influence our election. Do you remember that? Well, Intelligence Agencies have identified individuals connected to the Russian Government who provided WikiLeaks with the thousands of DNC emails, including those of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.

Officials have recognized these individuals as being part of a larger scheme to boost Trump’s chances and lower Hillary’s.

It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other: to help Trump get elected.

According to the Washington Post, Senators were briefed on these matters sometime around September, but Mitch McConnell had voiced doubts about the validity of the intelligence.The Trump transition team has declined to comment on this issue.

The Trump transition team has declined to comment on this issue, though since the rumor was first spread, Trump has repeatedly assured us that there was no Russian hacking in this election, even this week to TIME Magazine!

[The hacking] could be Russia, and it could be China, and it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.

Though the CIA has proven that these individuals were responsible for hacking the DNC emails, questions are still left unanswered. The intelligence agencies do not have specific intelligence pointing to officials in the Kremlin directing these hackers to pass the emails to WikiLeaks. According to the officials that spoke with the Washington Post, rather than government employees,  the individuals were “one step” removed from the Russian government. The deniability is still plausible because Russia has used operative middlemen for intelligence operations in the past.

The Obama Administration has been debating for months on how they should respond to the alleged Russian hacking because many officials were concerned about creating tension in Moscow and/or being accused of attempting to help Hillary Clinton.

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An Eerie Election in Erie

Image: PBS

In August, I took a brief hiatus from graduate school to accept a job as a political organizer with the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. Although I had initially been a Bernie Sanders supporter in the Democratic primary because of his progressive vision for America, once that ship had sailed, and it was Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump in the general election I knew what I had to do to ensure that when the dust settled I was on the right side of history. I headed hours away from the comforts of my life in Washington, DC to Erie, Pennsylvania in support of Secretary Hillary Clinton and Democratic ideals. I also went with the aim of helping elect other down-ballot Democratic contenders in elections, bearing Obama’s presidency in mind and being intellectually honest in the fact that a democratic leader means nothing without the right supporting cast around them to assist in bringing their vision to fruition.

I arrived in Erie the day after Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine had visited to speak to the Erie residents. This visit came weeks after Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump had made a trek of his own to the top of Pennsylvania to check in on Erie voters and let them know that their votes mattered tremendously. Based on conversations held with locals upon my arrival to Erie, two things immediately became certain. First, residents were more energized by Trump’s visit than they were by Kaine’s because it is a long-standing tradition for presidential hopefuls to stop through Erie. Second, based on the first reality acknowledged, my team and I would have an uphill battle to fight if history was to be made, so we fought.

We traveled to local colleges and schools. We went to community centers and sporting events. Still, a truth remained— many of the millennials we were regularly in contact with realized how toxic a Trump presidency could potentially be for themselves and other groups that make up America, but they also could not come to grips with how Bernie was treated during the primaries.

In a world where Hillary Clinton’s trustworthiness was already on the ballot, the Democratic Party’s actions to undermine Bernie Sanders’ success in the primary coupled with Clinton’s proximity to Debbie Wasserman Schulz immediately following the whole ordeal gave rise to a perception that proved to be almost impossible to shake. For adults in Erie who have had Democratic leadership for the majority of recent memory without much improvement to the lives of everyday people, they were unenthusiastic about the prospect of a Democratic president being able to bring local change that Democratic mayors and senators of the past had failed to deliver. In the world of politics where perception is the reality, these perceptions effectively issued a death-knell to the idea of a Trump-Kaine victory. Donald Trump honed in the perception issues and played to them, constantly decrying how Bernie Sanders had been treated badly and asking what the electorate had to lose by voting for change. With this acknowledgment of wrongdoing at the top of the Democratic Party and the challenge he made to voters to try something different, Trump was able to catalyze a revolution within our loyalist voter base that showed on Nov. 8th when Trump became the first republican to win the state of Pennsylvania in twenty-eight years. A Republican populist with no political experience beating out a well-credentialed Democratic stateswoman taught us all a lesson in transformative politics and shattered all poll predictions.

On the back end of what can only be described as a political revolution, I am left not knowing how to feel. In the earliest days of president-elect Trump, there have been reports of members of the LGBTQ community committing suicide rather than facing an America where their very existence may potentially be challenged every day. There are further reports on social media of intolerant messages being placed on structures, women getting groped and Muslim-Americans being harassed. There have been protests in major cities all across the country, and I would argue that they have been speaking to a very real fear. Cabinet picks are typically one of the earliest indicators of how an administration will be run. Just recently, President-elect Trump has identified Steve Bannon, a man who has no respect for the plurality of this country, as one of his closest advisers. If this pick is to be a gauge of how the Trump administration will govern, Americans are rightfully scared. Given the fact that this nation’s success in now inherently tied to the success of the Trump presidency, I genuinely wish him well. My only hope is that his administration hears the cries made by many Americans, acknowledges them as legitimate concerns, and takes steps to move forward and be a president for all Americans.