Hillary Clinton Promises Transparency In Her Administration
In 2008, speaking to the Newspaper Association #39;s annual convention, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton promised "openness" and that she would "urge agencies to release information quickly"...
By: Rising ICYMI
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Hillary Clinton Promises Transparency In Her Administration - Video
By Brianna Keilar, CNN Senior Political Correspondent
updated 8:57 PM EST, Thu December 11, 2014
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Washington (CNN) -- Users of Grindr, the leading gay hookup app, have voted Hillary Clinton their "Straight Ally of the Year."
The former secretary of state joins a slate of other noteworthy figures highlighted in Grindr's 'Best of Awards' for 2014, including Neil Patrick Harris (voted "Gay Icon of the Year" for the second year in a row) and Vladimir Putin (voted "Enemy of the LGBT Community").
While Clinton's team has not responded to request for comment, it seems likely she would welcome the positive reaction from Grindr's gay users.
Clinton did not publicly support same-sex marriage until last year, after she stepped down as secretary of state. During a testy interview with National Public Radio this summer, she said she couldn't wade into politics while serving in what is supposed to be an apolitical position and, before that, to her upbringing to explain her lack of support for same-sex marriage.
"I did not grow up even imagining gay marriage and I don't think you probably did either," Clinton told NPR's Terry Gross.
"This was an incredibly new and important idea that people on the front lines of the gay rights movement began to talk about and slowly but surely convinced others of the rightness of that position. And when I was ready to say what I said, I said it," Clinton said, pushing back on the suggestion that she supported same-sex marriage but was waiting for it to be politically advantageous position to take.
Grindr users "Biggest prediction for 2015" is that Clinton will announce her presidential campaign, a move that is all but certain now that Clinton's timeline for an announcement appears to be slipping toward the spring.
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Hillary Clinton wins award from gay hookup app
The State Department has failed to turn over government documents covering Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state that The Associated Press and others requested under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act ahead of her presumptive presidential campaign. They include one request AP made four years ago and others pending for more than one year.
The agency already has missed deadlines it set for itself to turn over the material.
The State Department denied the AP's requests, and rejected the AP's subsequent appeals, to release the records sought quickly under a provision in the law reserved for journalists requesting federal records about especially newsworthy topics.
In its requests, the AP cited the likely prospect of Clinton entering the 2016 race. The former first lady is widely considered the leading Democratic contender hoping to succeed President Obama. She has made scores of recent high-profile speeches and public appearances.
On Wednesday, the conservative political advocacy group Citizens United sued the State Department for failing to disclose flight records showing who accompanied Clinton on overseas trips.
Citizens United, which in 2009 mounted a legal battle that led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning campaign finance limits, said the department unlawfully was withholding the records it sought nearly five months ago.
The State Department is among the U.S. government's worst-performing federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act. There is no direct evidence that political considerations in a Democratic presidential administration have delayed the release of files about the party's leading contender for 2016. But the agency's delays, unusual even by government standards, have stoked perceptions about what could be taking so long.
"There may not necessarily be political interference, but if the department went out of its way to speed these documents there would be no way for people to accuse them of it," said Thomas Blanton, who has previously sued the State Department for access to records as director of George Washington University's National Security Archive, a research organization.
The department "is stonewalling us," said Citizen United's president, David Bossie. He asserted that "these decisions are being made with Hillary Clinton's intentions at heart," but acknowledged he could provide no evidence of political interference.
Bossie, a former Republican congressional investigator who researched figures in the Clinton administration, said his group's film unit wants the records for a sequel to its documentary about Clinton, which spurred the Citizens United court decision.
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State Dept. 'stonewalling' requests for Clinton's files - VIDEO: State Dept. 'stonewalling' AP requests - Security at ...
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at Georgetown University in Washington on Dec. 3, 2014. (Associated Press) **FILE** more >
Millionaire voters prefer former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for president in 2016 against other potential candidates of both parties, according to a CNBC poll.
Mrs. Clinton is the top choice with 31 percent of the vote, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 18 percent and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 14 percent.
The survey polled 500 people with investable assets of $1 million or more, which represents the top 8 percent of households in the country.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont Independent, was next with 11 percent and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was at 8 percent. Both would-be candidates have devoted a significant amount of time decrying income inequality in America, and liberal groups are trying to get Ms. Warren to enter the Democratic nomination contest as an alternative to Mrs. Clinton, who is still considering whether or not to run.
Seventy-two percent of Democratic millionaires prefer Mrs. Clinton, with Ms. Warren next at 14 percent.
Mr. Bush led the way among Republican millionaires with 36 percent, followed by Mr. Christies 19 percent and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walkers 18 percent.
Ninety-three percent of the millionaires polled said they voted in the 2014 midterm elections.
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Hillary Clinton is millionaires' choice for 2016: poll
Refugees from Africa line up at a makeshift immigrant processing center in Bnei Brak, the only one open to them in Israel. Photo by Simone Wilson
One hour before the 19th Israeli Knesset, or parliament, dissolved forever on Dec. 8, its members made a last-ditch effort to save Holot, the open desert prison they created one year prior to detain undocumented Eritrean and Sudanese immigrants.
On the table was a fifth amendment to the half-century-old Anti-Infiltration Law created to prevent Palestinian refugees from returning to Israel, but amended in recent years to govern the fate of 50,000 Africans who trekked to Israels southern border seeking work and asylum.
The latest amendment comes in response to a Supreme Court ruling in September that found Holot to be unconstitutional. Instead of closing it completely, Knesset members proposed that individual prison terms be limited to 20 months, and that prisoner check-ins be cut from three times per day to once each night.
After the final tally on the night of Dec. 8, the bill passed 41 to 29.
Members of the 19th Knesset, known for their high-drama plenum battles, used the vote to stage a final showdown of ideals.
[We must] keep this country as the nation-state of the Jewish people and not invite a situation in which thousands of infiltrators come here to find work, said right-wing Knesset member Miri Regev, a member of the prime ministers Likud Party. Its a disgrace that parties who call themselves Zionist, like the Labor Party, opposed this bill.
Knesset member Nitzan Horowitz, a former TV reporter belonging to the leftist Meretz Party, fired back. Its too bad Regev and the interior minister didnt read the High Courts first verdict overturning the law, he said. They would have understood that in a democratic state, it is impossible to imprison people without a trial. It doesnt matter whether theyre Blacks from Africa, blonds from Sweden or people from Tel Aviv or Yeruham.
The goal of the new legislation, as stated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when it was drafted on Nov. 30, is to continue driving undocumented Africans out of Israel.
It fits the reality, Netanyahu said of the law. It also fits the rulings of the High Court of Justice. I remind you that Israel has achieved the extraordinary, which Im very proud of, in blocking illegal migration across our borders zero illegal migrants. Part of this entails repatriating illegal migrants. This year we repatriated over 6,000 illegal migrants. This legislation is designed to enable us to continue this trend.
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19th Knessets dying wish: Drive Africans from Israel