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By Joe Lauria

Hillary Clinton. (Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Editors note: The following is an excerpt from How I Lost by Hillary Clinton, introduced and annotated by Joe Lauria and reprinted by arrangement with OR Books. The book draws on the WikiLeaks releases of Clintons talks at Goldman Sachs and the emails of her campaign chief, John Podesta, as well as key passages from her public speeches. How I Lost by Hillary Clinton also includes extensive commentary by Lauria and a foreword by Julian Assange, editor in chief of WikiLeaks. For a limited time, Truthdig readers can buy How I Lost from OR Books for 20 percent off just use coupon code HILLZ20 on the last page of checkout.

Between April 2013 and March 2015, Hillary Clinton gave 91 paid speeches averaging $235,304.35 apiece, for a total of $21,648,000. Three weeks after delivering the last speech, on April 12, 2015, Clinton announced her second bid for the presidency. During the campaign she steadfastly refused to release transcripts of her Wall Street speeches. But on October 7, 2016, WikiLeaks published the full transcripts as part of its Podesta email release.

Clinton spoke to just about anyone who would pay, including a scrap metal and recycling conference in Las Vegas, the automobile dealers association in New Orleans and the National Association of Convenience Stores in Atlanta. Clinton said that fees from speeches at universities went to the Clinton Foundation and not directly into her pocket. That didnt stop students at the University of Nevada Las Vegas protesting her $225,000 haul as the university was hiking tuition.

Excerpts in this book are principally from the three speeches she gave in 2013 to Goldman Sachs executives for a total of $675,000. Asked by CNNs Anderson Cooper at a town hall event in New Hampshire on February 3, 2016, whether it was a mistake to accept that much money, Clinton responded: Thats what they offered. A Washington Post column the next day was headlined, Hillary Clinton is going to really regret saying these 4 words about Goldman Sachs.

Also included in these pages is a selection of emails from the Podesta trove illuminating why, for the second time in eight years, Hillary Clinton failed to return to the White House as president.

These remarks from Clinton speeches, contained in a leaked Podesta email dated January 1, 2016 were labeled red flags that would mark Clinton as an economic elitist out of touch with average Americans.

Tony Carrk, Clintons campaign research director and the author of the email, recommended covering up these private positions in public. There is a lot of policy positions that we should give an extra scrub with Policy, he writes.

FAR REMOVED Hillary Clinton remarks at Goldman-BlackRock, February 4, 2014, in New York. BlackRock has 13,000 employees and manages $5.1 trillion in assets, making it the worlds largest asset management company.

CLINTON: I am not taking a position on any policy, but I do think there is a growing sense of anxiety and even anger in the country over the feeling that the game is rigged. And I never had that feeling when I was growing up. Never. I mean, were there really rich people? Of course there were. My father loved to complain about big business and big government, but we had a solid middle class upbringing. We had good public schools. We had accessible health care. We had our little, you know, one-family house that, you know, he saved up his money, didnt believe in mortgages. So I lived that. And now, obviously, Im kind of far removed because the life Ive lived and the economic, you know, fortunes that my husband and I now enjoy, but I havent forgotten it.

In many of her speeches Clinton appears to personify the individualism and acquisitiveness rampant at the top in America. Here at least she recognizes the growing sense of anxiety and even anger in the country. Having said that, she admits she cant relate to it and implies shes having difficulty formulating policy to deal with it. That proved fatal in the 2016 election. Newspaper stories about being kind of far removed because the life Ive lived and the economic, you know, fortunes that my husband and I now enjoy did not endear her to Rust Belt and other working-class voters. Nor did it to Colin Powell, who in a 2014 email revealed by DC Leaks called Clinton a 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still dicking bimbos at home. The following email from Neera Tanden, a Clinton adviser and president of Podestas Center for American Progress, likewise casts Clinton as someone unable to connect with ordinary people.

Email from Neera Tanden to John Podesta, August 22, 2015.

I know this email thing isnt on the level. Im fully aware of that. But her inability to just do a national interview and communicate genuine feelings of remorse and regret is now, I fear, becoming a character problem (more so than honesty).

THE PROBLEM OF BIAS AGAINST RICH PEOPLE From remarks at a Goldman Sachs Builders and Innovators Summit, with Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, October 29, 2013. This was Goldmans second annual summit with entrepreneurs held outside Tucson, Arizona.

CLINTON: Yeah. Well, you know what Bob Rubin [estimated 2012 net worth of $100 million] said about that. He said, you know, when he came to Washington, he had a fortune. And when he left Washington, he had a small

BLANKFEIN: Thats how you have a small fortune, is you go to Washington.

CLINTON: You go to Washington. Right. But, you know, part of the problem with the political situation, too, is that there is such a bias against people who have led successful and/or complicated lives. You know, the divestment of assets, the stripping of all kinds of positions, the sale of stocks. It just becomes very onerous and unnecessary.

Here Clinton is saying she doesnt much like ethics rules that require public officials to eliminate conflicts of interest, which Clinton has been dogged with since her days as a lawyer at the Rose Law Firm doing business with the Arkansas state government while her husband was governor.

THE DEPLORABLES

Of all the remarks Hillary Clinton made that could offend average Americans, none perhaps was as devastating as her assertion that half of Trumps supporters were deplorables, a claim that she made on camerano leak was necessary. It was accompanied by calls for understanding and empathy for Americans victimized by an extreme market economy, but that part of her message never got through.

From an on-the-record speech by Clinton to a gala LGBT fundraiser in New York on September 9, 2016:

CLINTON: I know there are only 60 days left to make our caseand dont get complacent, dont see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment and think, well, hes done this time. We are living in a volatile political environment. You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trumps supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic xenophobic, Islamophobicyou name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 peoplenow 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folksthey are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America.

But the other basketand I know this because I see friends from all over America hereI see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texasas well as, you know, New York and Californiabut that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and theyre just desperate for change. It doesnt really even matter where it comes from. They dont buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They wont wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like theyre in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.

Clinton had previously made similar disparaging remarks about some workers to an Israeli TV station: You could put Trumps supporters in two big baskets. Theyre what I call the deplorables. The racists and the haters and the people who are drawn because they think he can somehow restore an America that no longer exists. These voters are the paranoiac prejudicial element within our politics. This is a stinging rebuke to victims of an America that no longer exists largely because of the neoliberalism of Clinton and her backers.

A POLITICAL MODERATEIN PRIVATE

This remark, that what was needed in American politics were two sensible, moderate parties, would not be surprising except that later Clinton, with Bernie Sanders snapping at her heels, tried to convince voters that she was a progressive.

From the Tony Carrk email. Excerpt of a discussion with Ursula Burns, the Chairperson of Xerox Corporation, and Hillary Clinton in New York, March 18, 2014.

URSULA BURNS: Okay. Well go back to questions.

CLINTON: We need two parties.

BURNS: Yeah, we do need two parties.

CLINTON: Two sensible, moderate, pragmatic parties.

TAKING FLAK FOR WALL STREET

From remarks to Goldman Sachs AIMS Alternative Investments Symposium, October 24, 2013 in New York.

CLINTON: That was one of the reasons that I started traveling in February of 09, so people could, you know, literally yell at me for the United States and our banking system causing this everywhere. Now, thats an oversimplification we know, but it was the conventional wisdom. And I think that theres a lot that could have been avoided in terms of both misunderstanding and really politicizing what happened with greater transparency, with greater openness on all sides, you know, what happened, how did it happen, how do we prevent it from happening? You guys help us figure it out and lets make sure that we do it right this time. And I think that everybody was desperately trying to fend off the worst effects institutionally, governmentally, and there just wasnt that opportunity to try to sort this out, and that came later.

This is notable because the blame Clinton places on Wall Street for the 2008 crash is so tepid. The crash came about in significant part because of the dismantling of banking regulations by the successive administrations of her husband and George W. Bush. Rather than calling for more regulation, breaking up banking monopolies, or even nationalizing banks, she asks the very culprits to figure it out so we do it right this time. Clintons use of we underscores the barely covert ruling partnership of government and private finance.

Tellingly, she names only two victims of Wall Streets perfidy: Wall Street itself and governmentnot ordinary Americans: Everybody was desperately trying to fend off the worst effects institutionally, governmentally, she says. Everybody apparently includes only those in high finance and government. Clinton is, of course, expert at telling an audience what they want to hear, especially one that she knew shed need once she declared for the presidency. Clinton here attempts to convince her audience that she is one of them, someone whod go to bat for themas she did when she was secretary of state and took a hit on their behalf as she traveled in a world shaken by their greed. She was rewarded by a total of $115.5 million in donations from the financial services industry to her campaign and associated PACs out of a total of $1.2 billion raised. (Trump raised only $7.9 million from Wall Street.)

READ: Hillary Clinton the Fear of War With Russia

CLINTON AND GLASS-STEAGALL

The Glass-Steagall Act was passed in 1933, in the depths of the Depression, to separate commercial from investment banking, thus curbing speculation with ordinary Americans savings. It was repealed by Congress in 1999 after a push from President Bill Clinton and his Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. Ending the act made the pending October 1998 merger of Citicorp with Travelers Group possible, creating the first super bank, Citigroup. And who became chairman of the new banking conglomerate when he left government? None other than Rubin himself. In his primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders called for the reenactment of Glass-Steagall, a position Clinton rejected, despite the consternation of some of her advisers, as is seen in these two leaked emails. Clinton adviser Neera Tanden is trying to come up with a debate answer that will make Clinton look progressive and not pro-bank without actually calling for the return of Glass-Steagall. And Ron Klain, chief of Clintons debate prep team, suggests Clinton finesse her way around the problem by saying that Glass-Steagall cant be brought back because it is out of date and that new legislation is needed.

From: Neera Tanden To: Jake Sullivan (Clintons top foreign policy adviser in the campaign) Date: September 12, 2015 Subject: Re: Glass steagall

I would say that if theres a bank that needs to be broken up she needs a glass steagall tool to break them up. She cant really do that now. However, Im open to saying a pattern of too much complexity. So its finding several banks. But Im trying to find a debate answer not a policy rollout. Happy to think longer for that kind of answer. Obviously she cant break up any bank on her own. The higher cap requirements are designed to assure much less likelihood of failure. We have pushed for higher ones. But we live in a quandary which is no one knows what any of this means and glass steagall has the most resonance with reporters and the like.

From: Neera Tanden To: Gary Gensler (Clinton campaigns chief financial officer) Date: September 12, 2015 Subject: Glass steagall

First I would expect Biden to endorse glass steagall if he gets in. What do we think he and warren [U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who favors restoring the Act] were discussing for the hour? But we will know something [like] that hopefully before the debate. But it would be my bet that he ends up in favor. To answer Garys email, we have an essential conundrum. Glass Steagall has become shorthand for tough on the banks with the left. Again, Im not saying its fair or unfair. It just seems very hard to undo in the time we have. So we can say all these things youd like her to say but when she says shes against reinstating on that debate stage I am worried that will be shorthanded as shes pro-bank. We all have different discussions about policy with different people and different assessments. But a lot of people see an ftt. [financial transaction tax] as a criticism of Wall Street simply by being a tax on stocks. Though Im all for making brokers pay it. Its not like people are super distinguishing the banks, hedge funds and Wall Street. But hey, if she had been for reinstating glass steagall, that would create a different calculus for an ftt Given we are not for reinstating, I think that makes an ftt even more of an imperative. And at least it gives her something to say about taking a tough stand in this realm. Now I think Ive at least properly beaten this dead horse for my part.

From: Gary Gensler To: Neera Tanden Date: September 12, 2015 Subject: Re: Glass steagall

Neera, And here I thought that I affirmatively offered an alternative way that keeps the horse was [sic] alive: We revise our risk proposals to center or include explicit laws to allow for regulators to downsize or restructure the largest banks. Not Glass Steagall, but clearly putting HRC in camp of breaking up Too Big to Fail Banks. Gives her a clear answer on debate stage. She would be for downsizing these Banks but not in a 1930s way. In fact she would be addressing the real issues of size, risk and complexity, not just some rhetoric about an old law about lines of business. It actually can be articulated as bolder than Glass Steagall, depending how structured. Dial up all the way to a size limit or dial still high [sic] to explicitly give regulators greater authorities to downsize and restructure. To criticism that not Glass Steagall, she responds that she is actually broader than simply focusing on what lines of finance these firms can be in. To question of why not just break them up now she says that best go give to experts rather than make a political decision. Horse still alive in my mind. Just a slightly different horse - more appropriate for the times than an old nag from thee 1930s [sic].

Gary

From: Ron Klain (chief of Clintons debate prep team) To: Jake Sullivan Date: Oct 3, 2015, at 11:39 AM

*She should move 95% to Warren on Glass Steagall.* I think you can avoid the flip flop, but survive the Warren primary by saying: Of course I wouldnt bring back Glass Steagallthats a law written 80 years ago before we had anything like the current banking system. But I agree with Sen. Warren thatgiven the ongoing misconduct in the banking industrywe need to erect a wall between banking and non-banking activities. If I became President, I would sit down with her and develop a 21st century version of Glass Steagall that provides sound separation between basic banking and riskier activities, but still keeps Americas financial institutions competitive. Just my view, FWIW [For what its worth].

Ron

In the first Democratic debate, ten days after Klains email, Clinton ignored Glass-Steagall though she was asked directly about it, simply saying she had a better plan.

From the first Democratic debate, October 13, 2015, Las Vegas, Nevada.

CLINTON: Theres this whole area called shadow banking. Thats where the experts tell me the next potential problem could come from. ... If only you look at the big banks, you may be missing the forest for the trees.

ANDERSON COOPER (CNN): Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton just said that her policy is tougher than yours.

SANDERS: Well, thats not true.

[Laughter]

COOPER: Why?

SANDERS: Let us be clear that the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior of Wall Street, where fraud is a business model, helped to destroy this economy and the lives of millions of people. Check the record. In the 1990sand all due respectin the 1990s, when I had the Republican leadership and Wall Street spending billions of dollars in lobbying, when the Clinton administration, when [Fed Chairman] Alan Greenspan said, what a great idea it would be to allow these huge banks to merge, Bernie Sanders fought them, and helped lead the opposition to deregulation. [Applause]

Today, it is my view that when you have the three ...

COOPER: Senator

SANDERS: ... largest banks in Americaare much bigger than they were when we bailed them out for being too big to fail, we have got to break them up. ... In my view, Secretary Clinton, you do notCongress does not regulate Wall Street. Wall Street regulates Congress. [Applause] And we have gotta break off these banks. Going to them ...

CLINTON: So ...

SANDERS: ... and saying, please, do the right thing ...

CLINTON: ... no, thats not what ...

SANDERS: ... is kind of naive.

WE ARE NOT DENMARK

In the same debate Clinton revealed why she does not believe in the European-style social democracy that provides government-subsidized health care and education while maintaining a regulated free market system that puts breaks on runaway profit-making.

SANDERS: Well, were gonna win because first, were gonna explain what democratic socialism is. And what democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percentalmostown almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. That when you look around the world, you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the United States. You see every other major country saying to moms that, when you have a baby, were not gonna separate you from your newborn baby, because we are going to havewe are gonna have medical and family paid leave, like every other country on Earth. Those are some of the principles that I believe in, and I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished.

[Applause]

CLINTON: Well, let me just follow-up on that, Anderson, because when I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families. And I dont think we should confuse what we have to do every so often in America, which is save capitalism from itself. And I think what Senator Sanders is saying certainly makes sense in the terms of the inequality that we have. But we are not Denmark. I love Denmark. We are the United States of America. And its our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesnt run amok and doesnt cause the kind of inequities were seeing in our economic system. But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history. ...

Clinton was never explicit about why she felt the U.S. could not become a European-style social democracy. Certainly such a transition is economically possible. The U.S. is the richest nation on earth. It spends more on defense than the next ten nations combined. Cutting its military budget and raising taxes on the wealthy could easily facilitate substantial social democratic programs. But Clinton appears to believe that Americas obsessive commitment to profit makes this impossible.

THE PERCEPTION THAT THE GAME IS RIGGED The following remark was made by Clinton to an audience at Deutsche Bank on October 7, 2014 in New York.

CLINTON: Now, its important to recognize the vital role that the financial markets play in our economy and that so many of you are contributing to. To function effectively those markets and the men and women who shape them have to command trust and confidence, because we all rely on the markets transparency and integrity. So even if it may not be 100 percent true, if the perception is that somehowvthe game is rigged, that should be a problem for all of us, and we have to be willing to make that absolutely clear. And if there are issues, if theres wrong- doing, people have to be held accountable and we have to try to deter future bad behavior, because the public trust is at the core of both a free market economy and a democracy.

Clinton shied away from calling for bankers to be jailed until exactly one month before the election when on October 8 she said bankers who broke the law should be criminally prosecuted. This came as she was appealing to Sanders supporters to vote for her, and just a day after the leaked transcripts of her speeches were published.

IN FAVOR OF SELF-REGULATION From remarks to Deutsche Bank, October 7, 2014 in New York:

CLINTON: Remember what Teddy Roosevelt did. Yes, he took on what he saw as the excesses in the economy, but he also stood against the excesses in politics. He didnt want to unleash a lot of nationalist, populistic reaction. He wanted to try to figure out how to get back into that balance that has served America so well over our entire nationhood. Today, theres more that can and should be done that really has to come from the industry itself, and how we can strengthen our economy, create more jobs at a time where thats increasingly challenging, to get back to Teddy Roosevelts square deal. And I really believe that our country and all of you are up to that job.

This makes clear that Clinton believed the people who should fix the economic crisis are the very people who caused it. Her invocation of Teddy Roosevelt is risky with this crowdwere he alive today he would likely be the strongest voice calling to break up the big banks.

From remarks to Goldman Sachs AIMS Alternative Investments Symposium, October 24th, 2013 in New York.

CLINTON: I mean, its still happening, as you know. People are looking back and trying to, you know, get compensation for bad mortgages and all the rest of it in some of the agreements that are being reached. Theres nothing magic about regulations, too much is bad, too little is bad. How do you get to the golden key, how do we figure out what works? And the people that know the industry better than anybody are the people who work in the industry. And I think there has to be a recognition that, you know, theres so much at stake now, I mean, the business has changed so much and decisions are made so quickly, in nanoseconds basically. We spend trillions of dollars to travel around the world, but its in everybodys interest that we have a better framework, and not just for the United States but for the entire world, in which to operate and trade.

Clinton is here addressing a Goldman Sachs crowd on the issue of banking regulation. Between 2008 and 2015, Goldman Sachs alone spent millions of dollars lobbying against the Dodd-Frank financial regulationsthe response to the 2008 financial crash. After Obama signed it into law in 2010, the lobbying efforts shifted to impeding its implementation. Only 38 of the almost 400 regulations were completed. The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission delayed rulings, creating regulatory gridlock. In the following years, Wall Street successfully lobbied Congress to attach various new restrictions on regulations to must-pass legislation like Budget Resolutions, capturing the Democratic support needed to approve the deregulatory amendments.

Clinton has a long history of fighting regulation unfriendly to business. At the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas in the late 1970s, she helped craft a legal strategy to undo regulations that hampered the profits of the local electric company.

WALL STREET CAMPAIGN FUNDING

From remarks to Goldman Sachs AIMS Alternative Investments Symposium, October 24, 2013 in New York.

CLINTON: Running for office in our country takes a lot of money, and candidates have to go out and raise it. New York is probably the leading site for contributions for fundraising for candidates on both sides of the aisle, and its also our economic center. And there are a lot of people here who should ask some tough questions before handing over campaign contributions to people who were really playing chicken with our whole economy.

Clinton here is coming down hard on the side of Wall Street donors, advising them to hold politicians to account before turning over their casha candid admission about who holds the levers of power.

From remarks to General Electrics Global Leadership Meeting on June 1, 2014 in Boca Raton, Florida.

CLINTON: Obviously as somebody who has been through it, I would like it not to last as long because I think its very distracting from what we should be doing every day in our public business. I would like it not to be so expensive. I have no idea how you do that. I mean, in my campaignI lose track, but I think I raised $250 million or some such enormous amount, and in the last campaign President Obama raised $1.1 billion, and that was before the Super PACs and all of this other money just rushing in, and its so ridiculous that we have this kind of free for all with all of this financial interest at stake, but, you know, the Supreme Court said thats basically what were in for. So were kind of in the wild west, and, you know, it would be very difficult to run for president without raising a huge amount of money and without having other people supporting you because your opponent will have their supporters. So I think as hard as it was when I ran, I think its even harder now.

Clinton is here referring to the Supreme Courts 2010 Citizens United decision, which overturned prohibitions dating back to the Progressive Era on campaign contributions coming from company coffers. Companies still cant contribute directly to campaigns. But the courts ruling has unleashed large amounts of uncapped money, which can remain secret, to political action committees (PACs). The PACS are legally supposed to have no contact with political campaigns, but they are playing an increasingly influential role in American politics. Clinton is treading delicately here. Do big donors really want to spend less on politicians? Reducing the cost of running, as Clinton suggests, might lessen politicians dependence on them. It is noteworthy that Clinton is telling this wealthy audience that she has no idea how to solve the problem of money in politics, though there are plenty of reform proposals out there.

REPRESENTING WALL STREET From remarks at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, a financial securities law firm, in San Diego, September 4, 2014.

CLINTON: When I was a Senator from New York, I represented and worked with so many talented, principled people who made their living in finance. But even though I represented them and did all I could to make sure they continued to prosper, I called for closing the carried interest loophole and addressing skyrocketing CEO pay. I also was calling in 06, 07 for doing something about the mortgage crisis, because I saw every day from Wall Street literally to main streets across New York how a well-functioning financial system is essential. So when I raised early warnings about subprime mortgages and called for regulating derivatives and over complex financial products, I didnt get some big arguments, because people sort of said, no, that makes sense. But boy, have we had fights about it ever since.

Clinton may well have raised those matters in the Senate, but her efforts did not translate into adopted legislation. In debate prep questions and answers in an email from Clinton adviser Neera Tanden on August 11, 2015, Clinton is prepared to say that back in 2006, 2007 and 2008, I was on the front lines in pushing back against the excesses in the subprime market. I introduced legislation about this. But a video emerged showing her blaming homeowners for the coming crisis in 2007. She said home buyers should have known they were getting in over their heads.

Remarks to Goldman Sachs AIMS Alternative Investments Symposium, October 24, 2013, in New York.

CLINTON: I represented all of you for eight years. I had great relations and worked so close together after 9/11 to rebuild downtown, and a lot of respect for the work you do and the people who do it, but I doI think that when we talk about the regulators and the politicians, the economic consequences of bad decisions back in 08, you know, were devastating, and they had repercussions throughout the world.

Though Clinton is here mildly chastising Goldman Sachs executives for 2008, Carrk still flagged her comment as potential trouble for the campaign because she prefaces it with praise and appreciation for the great relations shes enjoyed with the bankers. Clinton made a similar remark about her close relations with Wall Street in the aftermath of 9/11 during a November 14, 2015, debate with Bernie Sanders. But, oddly, she invoked that relationship as a defense for receiving huge Wall Street donations.

Debate with Bernie Sanders, November 14, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa.

SANDERS: I have never heard a candidate, never, whos received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military industrial complex, not one candidate, go, Oh, thesethese campaign contributions will not influence me. Im gonna be independent. Now, why do they make millions of dollars of campaign contributions? They expect to get something. Everybody knows that.

CLINTON: He has basically used his answer to impugn my integrity, lets be frank here. ...You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small, I am very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent. So II represented New York. And I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild.

SANDERS: Heresthis issue touches on two broad issues. Its not just Wall Street. Its campaigns, a corrupt campaign finance system. And it is easy to talk the talk about endingCitizens United. But what I think we need to do is show by example that we are prepared to not rely on large corporations and Wall Street for campaign contributions.

ON THE VIRTUES OF OPEN MARKETS Remarks to Goldman Sachs Builders and Innovators Summit, Tucson, Arizona, October 29, 2013

Original post:
How Hillary Clinton's Goldman Sach Speeches Showed Elitismand Cost Her the 2016 Election - Truthdig

Benton County officials are preparing to make policy changes after a federal appeals court ruled in-custody defendants should not be shackled in the courtroom.

A presumptively innocent defendant has the right to be treated with respect and dignity in a public courtroom, not like a bear on a chain, the decision states.

The decision, which was handed down May 31 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a court with jurisdiction over many Western states including Oregon, relies heavily on the constitutional liberties ensured under the Fifth Amendment.

The decision says a judge must make a determination that a defendant be required to wear restraints. Otherwise, all presumptively innocent detainees must appear without shackles at all proceedings, including sentencing hearings.

I think its a very expansive decision that will probably be reviewed further, said Benton County Circuit Court Presiding Judge David B. Connell.

The U.S. Attorneys Office applied for and was granted a 90-day stay on the issue, according to documents filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals. Therefore, the new policy has not yet gone into effect. The stay allows the U.S. Attorneys Office time to file a motion asking for the Ninth Circuit to rehear the issue.

The U.S. Attorney's Office also could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, Connell said.

The decision is surprising because it greatly expands the scope of a defendants right not to be shackled in the courtroom, the judge said. The courts have long held that defendants should not be restrained during jury trials, the judge said.

Its not only the law, but I think its the right thing to do, Connell said.

For all other hearings that are not before a jury, defendants who are being held in the Benton County Jail typically are brought into court wearing cuffs around their ankles and wrists that are connected by a chain in front of their bodies, the judge said.

Should this decision go into effect, the sheriffs office would decide if someone poses a danger or risk for escape and should be shackled, Connell said. If a defendant contests that decision, a hearing would be held. The judge would look at factors including criminal history, the circumstances of the arrest and whether the defendant has been disruptive in the jail to decide if restraints are appropriate.

Since criminal cases take docket priority, these hearings may push aside civil cases, which already can take years to litigate, Connell said.

What an impact this would have is very hard to say since weve never faced it before, the judge said.

Benton County Sheriff Scott Jackson said more deputies would be needed to transport unrestrained offenders into courtrooms. He said he hopes the courts would use video appearances more often if the decision went into effect. Such video calls are currently used during some arraignments, but their use could be expanded for plea changes and sentencing hearings, Jackson said.

What were trying to avoid is having to bring on a bunch of staff that is costly to taxpayers, the sheriff said.

Jackson said he is also working to understand the legal definition of restraints. He said the Sheriffs Office has neoprene stun belts that wrap around the stomach and fit under clothing, so theyre not visible. A deputy could deploy the stun belt and incapacitate the defendant if the need arises, the sheriff said.

I question how valid (the decision) is, Jackson said. If you consider a violent person-to-person case or a rape case or significant domestic violence case where the victim has to come in to testify and theres no restraints there, it can be a really delicate situation to navigate, through.

Jennifer Nash, a Corvallis defense attorney, said she is pleased the sheriff and the courts are addressing the decision and safeguarding the constitutional rights of detainees.

All citizens are presumed to be innocent until the state proves that they are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, Nash said. Placing the accused in restraints when they do not pose a public safety threat belies that presumption.

Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson said those who participate in the judicial process must be mindful of ensuring both safety and fair trials. He said he will rely on the Ninth Circuits interpretation of the law in doing so.

Even under the proposed framework, if there is a risk, there is an opportunity to be able to address that with the court to ensure there are safeguards, Haroldson said.

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County responds to ruling against shackling in courtroom - Corvallis Gazette Times

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DUZCE, Turkey The midday sun was roasting, their limbs were aching, and the protesters, from Turkeys largest opposition party, still had 125 miles to march before Istanbul, their destination. The road had been hard: One elderly protester died of cardiac arrest and another was hospitalized with heart spasms.

But spirits were soaring as they walked through Duzce last week, holding banners that said justice to protest a spate of government arrests. A march that had seemed likely to fizzle or be stopped by the authorities had instead swelled in size since it left Ankara, the capital.

Pictures of the growing crowds were passed around on social media, attracting newcomers. The spectacle was provoking an increasingly venomous response from officials including charges of treason a sure sign the protest had touched a nerve, the organizers said.

The momentum seemed like a breakthrough for Turkeys cowed mainstream opposition as its supporters resorted to more-creative and desperate tactics to meet what they say is President Recep Tayyip Erdogans stranglehold over the states institutions such as parliament and the courts. But it also risked a violent confrontation with the authorities, especially as the march closed in on Istanbul, where thousands more people were likely to join the rally.

We shouldnt worry about it, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the opposition party, the Republican Peoples Party, or CHP, said about the potential for confrontation given the expected crowds in Istanbul. Erdogan should worry about it.

The march was called the day after the arrest last month of Enis Berberoglu, a CHP parliament member. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for giving an opposition newspaper a video purportedly showing Turkish intelligence sending weapons to Syria.

Berberoglu, a former journalist, was the first CHP lawmaker to be jailed during a state crackdown on suspected terrorists and ordinary dissidents since a failed coup last year, and his arrest was viewed by his party and others as an alarming escalation of the states campaign.

But it was just the last straw, said Aytug Atici, anotherCHP lawmaker. There had been outrage at the recent arrests of two teachers who had been on a months-long hunger strike to protest their dismissals from their jobs action they took on behalf of hundreds of other academics who have been summarily fired since the attempted coup.

And there were the ongoing trials of some of Turkeys most famous journalists, accused by prosecutors of treason, terrorism and other crimes, apparently for writing stories critical of the government.

So many people are being thrown in jail. So many things anger me, said Sabriye Demirici, 51, a doctor who participated in the march. She said that she was not affiliated with a political party and that the protest which had grown to several thousand people last week, from the hundreds who had left Ankara shows that ordinary citizens are uncomfortable with whats happening in the country right now.

Some ordinary citizens, anyway. On the road, Erdogans supporters taunted the marchers, holding up the flag of his Justice and Development Party. The president dismissed the need for such a march, arguing there were other ways for people to voice their complaints.

Walking around with a placard that says justice will not bring justice, he said, a few days after the march began. The place to search for justice in Turkey is parliament, he said, while also suggesting that it was wrong to march during the holy month of Ramadan and, more obliquely, that the protesters might be prosecuted.

The government has shown little patience for public demonstrations, which are tightly circumscribed because of Turkeys ongoing state of emergency. At the same time, the CHP had a reputation for avoiding confrontations with the authorities, rather than taking fierce stands at the ramparts.

Kilicdaroglu, the partys courtly leader, had faced derision for not holding street protests in April, after widespread reports of voting irregularities during a referendum that vastly expanded Erdogans powers. The complaints of inaction at a decisive moment had come from some in his own party.

People criticized this a lot, said Atici, the lawmaker, in praising Kilicdaroglus apparent change of heart.

Kilicdaroglu had also supported a government proposal last year to lift the immunity of members of parliament paving the way for the arrest of leaders of an opposition pro-Kurdish party and then, last month, the imprisonment of Berberoglu. In an interview last week, he said he did not regret the decision, asserting it was simply a part of his partys platform.

This time, the party had been left with little choice, he said. There is no parliament, he said. All the powers of the parliament have been transferred to Erdogan. There is no judiciary it is completely inside the political authority.

Turkey is losing democracy and blood, he said.

Along the march route last week, framed by rolling green hills, people appeared willing to put aside their misgivings about the CHP leader leading the march.

I dont think Kilicdaroglu is very effective, said Merve Sahin, a 19-year-old student who attended the protest with her boyfriend, Gurkan Turan, a 21-year old cook. Neither were members of the party. They attended because something needs to be done, Sahin said.

We thought this was a start, said Turan, rattling off a long list of grievances, including what he said was the mixing of religion and politics, the questions over the referendum vote and the jailing of academics and others.

There had been surprising shows of support along the march route, from honking cars and clusters of well-wishers, even here in Duzce, a stronghold for Erdogans supporters.

I feel great, said Atici, who was full of energy during one particularly grueling stretch of road, as his fellow protesters were wilting.

He had been engaged over the past year in his own novel protest, by refusing to cut his beard until the government lifted the state of emergency. He started growing it last July, and now, washed and combed out, it measured eight inches long.

The march, he said, had energized his party and stunned officials who were expecting that the CHP will give it up, after a few days, he said. Buoyed by their success, some of his fellow lawmakers compared their leaders stand, a little grandly, to Mohandas Gandhis famed march to the sea. It was not that, at least not yet.

But from the oppositions perspective, it was a start. We needed something like this, Atici said.

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There is a surreal goofiness to President Trumps relentless war on Americas mainstream media.The disgruntled president responds to negative covfefe with cheesy hashtags and nicknames for his perceived adversaries: Theres psycho Joe Scarborough and low I.Q. crazy Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC, the failing New York Times and The Washington Post (for the record,were both doing pretty well in the age of Trump), and Trumps favorite target, fake or fraud CNN.

On Sunday, Trump, who was sitting at a golf course he owns in New Jersey, tweeted a childishclip of him wrestling down a person representing CNN.

At a time when aGOP politician has actually body-slammed a journalist, it wasnt funny. Brian Stelter, CNNs media reporter, tweeted a CNN statementsaying it was a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters.

President Trump renewed his attacks against CNN, which he has repeatedly called "fake news," on June 27, after CNN retracted a story about ties between a Trump associate and a Russian investment fund. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

But for Trump, the relentless drumbeat of anger against the press is a clear political tactic, designed to stoke his baseand build up anarrative of victimization. The president has complained virtually nonstop since taking office about the supposedly unfair coverage surrounding the White House, casting journalists as the opposition. He has also repeatedly broken assumed conventions of decency in American politics, fanned the flames of right-wing extremism among his support, and shamelessly spouted numerous falsehoodsonboth trivial and consequential matters. His behavior has compelledthe press coverage he now decries.

Of course, theres a legitimate conversation to be had about whether the media is biased against Trump, a president who radically reshaped the political climate in Washington. This week, for instance, CNN was forced to retract a botched investigative story on the Trump camps Russian connections. The network even let go three senior journalists associated with the piece.

Trump and his supporters crowed about the mistake, but pointedly ignored CNNs willingness to hold itself accountable for its mistakes a willingness Trump never has displayed overhis own misstatements and incendiary remarks. The president instead keeps usinghis social media megaphone and his proxies in theright-wing media bubble to denounce the entire media establishment as enemies of the American people.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) warned Trump against trying to weaponize distrust of the media. Butno matter the (softly spoken)censure from fellow Republican politicians,Trump cant seem to do any wrong in the eyes of his core supporters.

They like him, they believe in him, they have not to any large degree been shaken from him, and the more the media attacks him, the more it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy on the side of the Trump supporters who fervently believe the media treat him unfairly, said Tony Fabrizio, the chief pollster for Trumps campaign, to my colleagues. Its like, Beat me with that sword some more!

Trump is hardly the first politician to weaponize distrust of the media. In the wake of Trumps Sunday tweet, Richard Haass, the president of the indisputably bipartisan Council on Foreign Relations, likened Trumps rhetoric to that of a more practiced strongman president.

The stakes in Turkey are, of course, profoundly greater.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan withstood a violent coup attempt a year ago, which prompted his government to embark on a vast purge of state institutions and civil society. More than 100journalists have been thrown into prisonor forced into exile. Dozens ofmedia outlets have been closed or taken over by state authorities.Newspapers that were once titans of the establishment have seen their editors criminalized and offices raided.

But there are some importantsimilarities to bear in mind. Both Erdogan and Trump channel a kind of majoritarian nationalismanchored in grievance at cosmopolitan elites. And both paint their critics as threats to the nation. Over the weekend, Erdogan labeled a peaceful opposition protest marchfrom Ankara to Istanbul as the work of terrorist sympathizers.

The echoes of Erdogan in Trumps political style offer an uncomfortable new realityfor Americans,suggested Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman.

It is that, given enough time, any democratic system is vulnerable to assaults from a determined, dictatorial leader, wrote Rachmanearlier this year. Mr. Erdogan became prime minister in 2003 and, over time, utterly changed his country. As one Turkish intellectual put it to me ... Things that I would once have thought impossible are now happening on a daily basis.

Trump is not yet going nearly as far as Erdogan, who jails journalists, but the preliminary logic is the same an attempt to undermine the credibility of those who hold power to account, wrote Brian Klaas, a fellow at the London School of Economics and author ofa recent book on the erosion of democracies, in January.

The German newsweeklyDer Spiegel put it moststarkly in a February editorial: Erdogan and Trump are positioning themselves as the only ones capable of truly understanding the people and speaking for them. Its their view that freedom of the press does not protect democracy and that the press isnt reverent enough to them and is therefore useless. They believe that the words that come from their mouths as powerful leaders are the truth and that the media, when it strays from them, is telling lies. Thats autocratic thinking and it is how you sustain a dictatorship.

Tellingly, the two leaders have defended the other from their critics. In the wake of Erdogans purge, Trump said the United States didnt have much right to criticize the Turkish presidents crackdown; in the wake of Trumps inauguration, Erdogan described protests against the new president as disrespectful and applauded Trumps singling out CNN as fake news during a testy exchange at a news conference.

That day, Erdogancongratulated Trump for putting the CNN reporter in his place. Its the same sentiment many Trump supporters probablyfeel with every new hashtag and barbed insult hurled at journalists.

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