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Review of Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds by Huma Abedin (Simon and Schuster, 2021)

Huma Abedin has long been an object of media fascination. There are several reasons: her close professional and personal relationship to Hillary Clinton, her unlucky marriage to disgraced former New York congressman Anthony Weiner, and her origins (Abedin is an American citizen of Indian and Pakistani descent who grew up mostly in Saudi Arabia). Her quiet dignity in the face of public humiliation and racist right-wing persecution, along with her beauty and fashion sense, has added to her mystique. As well, Weiner and Clinton are outsize public figures from whom the world has heard too much. With her recent memoir, Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds a doorstop of a book, at 544 pages we finally get to hear Abedins side of things.

Well, some things.

Abedin renders many of her experiences vividly, including her familys history (her mother, a Fulbright scholar, comes from a line of Pakistani women who took extraordinary measures to secure education for themselves and their daughters); her happy childhood, much of it in Saudi Arabia; her relationship with Weiner; and the devastation of election night in 2016.

Abedins narrative deftly captures the (mostly female) labor force behind Hillary Clinton. An intern in the first ladys office as a college student, Abedin, now forty-five, has never left what insiders call Hillaryland, remaining a loyal right-hand woman to Clinton through her years as secretary of state, senator, two-time presidential candidate, and beyond.

It was years after an early promotion that Abedin asked her then boss, Kelly Craighead, why she was chosen for the competitive position, given that more experienced insiders applied. Craighead replied with another question: What would you do if you were in a faraway country with Hillary Clinton and she lost a contact lens just before giving a speech? Abedin answered without hesitation: she would get on the floor and find the missing lens. Exactly, replied Craighead:

You get on your hands and knees on a disgusting, grimy floor and find that contact, because thats what needs to be done. If you cant find the lens, perhaps the speech cant be delivered, and that canceled speech leads to a domino effect of consequences. A disappointed audience, a speculating media, a frustrated administration, an offended host country. Find the contact lens and the world keeps turning.

Craighead is jokingly coy when Abedin asks her if thats a real-life example. But early on in her career, Abedin experiences something similar. The first lady, about to go onstage to give a speech, tells Abedin that she has the wrong version of her remarks. Without hesitation, Abedin replies, I got it. Inferring that the annotated speech must have been left in the limousine on the way over, she races outside to the parking lot to find the car and retrieve the speech. She runs back inside as Hillary approaches the podium. The world keeps turning.

Not everything is rendered so vividly, however. We dont get much of a sense of Abedins political convictions. She longs for peace in the Middle East, believes in womens rights, and feels deeply that the Clintons want to make a difference in peoples lives. She is more sympathetic to the Palestinians than we might expect and, less surprisingly, an apologist for the Saudi government but these topics are broached delicately. Conspicuously absent from her narrative are any conversations about issues, policies, or politics in Hillaryland. The reader will initially assume that this absence is calculated to elide controversy or that it reflects a superficiality on the authors part. A startling anecdote suggests these arent the reasons.

Abedins husband, Anthony Weiner, although popular in his New York district, had to resign from Congress because he could not stop himself from texting photos of his penis to women. (He is perhaps the most unfortunate victim of nominative determinism ever.) The tale of their unraveling relationship is distressing on many levels, and Abedin tells that story well.

But the scandals arent the most interesting episodes in this memoir. More revealing is Abedins account of her first date with Weiner in January 2007, soon after Clinton had announced her first run for the presidency. Weiner, a committed liberal of the preBernie Sanders era (to the left of the Clintons, except on Israel), wants to discuss politics. He has opinions and principles. Hillary should come out for gay marriage and admit that her vote on the Iraq war was a mistake, he argues. Hes critical of his countrys close relationship with Saudi Arabia, which he views as a hotbed of officially sanctioned antisemitism and a funder of terrorism.

Abedin and Weiner have a lively discussion about their politics; they agree on some things (gay marriage) and disagree on others (Saudi Arabia). Its a normal first date between intelligent, young, political people in Washington, DC, but this kind of discussion is novel for Abedin, she relates. Although her family enjoyed spirited debate on political issues, Hillaryland did not. Its in that moment that Abedin comes to realize that the kind of Democrats she works with every day rarely discuss their political beliefs: they only talk about strategy, tactics, and messaging. In short, they dont care about policy, but about gaining power and keeping it.

With this admission, Abedin seems to highlight the emptiness at the core of Clintonite politics. When Abedin seems baffled in 2016 that so many of her fellow Muslims favor Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton, its another reminder that her political education, at least as an adult, has left her ill-equipped to navigate the world of political principles, issues, and values.

The train wreck of Abedins marriage to Weiner was obviously a humiliating public experience. But the consequences for Abedin were far more dire than they should have been. She was hounded by the media and, even worse, by members of the public, who called in complaints about the couple to child protective services, with the result being that they were under constant investigation over the safety of their young son a horrific form of harassment given that both seem to be loving and responsible parents. (Weiner served prison time because one of the people he sexted was a minor, but there is no evidence that he ever failed as a parent; indeed, he was often his sons primary caregiver because Abedins job in Hillaryland was so demanding.)

I finished the book feeling sad that this intelligent and public-spirited woman has spent her whole adult life working for the Clintons, whose main purpose in life has been the attainment of power. Similarly, her major romantic attachment has been to a man who, though a devoted father and public servant, is a narcissist who made epically foolish mistakes and caused her years of trouble and stress. These relationships, especially the decades with Hillary, have given her access to power (and glamour, counting Anna Wintour and the late Oscar de la Renta as close pals), but theyve also limited Abedins potential.

With her divorce from Weiner underway, it seems likely that Abedin will again find love. One cant feel as hopeful, however, that she will ever move on from Hillaryland. Indeed, the books jacket describes Abedin as Hillary Clintons chief of staff. Why does Hillary Clinton still need a chief of staff, one might wonder? Though Clinton is no longer in government service, apparently Hillaryland must go on. What if the former secretary of state drops a contact lens?

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The Emptiness at the Core of Hillary Clinton's Politics - Jacobin magazine

Scholars and educators in gender and ethnic studies are examining the increasingly negative narratives surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris with keen interest and sharp commentary.

As a politician and a woman of color, Harris has experienced both overt barbs and subtle microaggressions throughout her ascent to the vice presidency, but the recent drubbing has reached new heights, to the extent that a Politico article in December noted that despite being a natural successor to the oldest president ever elected, shes also in trouble.

Vice President Kamala HarrisIn the article, a group of political strategists offered divergent solutions to her challenges, ranging from continuing to be herself, to increasing likeability by being more authentic, to tackling a major project, to just doing her job the best she can.

Although the intense criticism is being described as a recent development, some in academia saw this coming.

Is it surprising that the same people who rejected Hillary Clinton and who reject Alexandria Ocasio Cortez are rejecting VP Harris? asks Dr. Kendra Hamilton, assistant professor of English and director of the Southern Studies Program at Presbyterian College. Not at all, because it appears to be not so much about politics all these women have quite distinct political positions and personas as it is about gender.

In the past, Harris was subjected to public disrespect not accorded to her male counterparts. In 2017, Dr. Stephanie Norander, associate professor of communication studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, wrote an article in Feminist Media Studies titled Kamala Harris and the Interruptions Heard Around the Internet. In it, Norander describes the frequent interruptions Harris faced as she spoke during televised hearings of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

During the hearings, she received much attention for being the only committee member to be interrupted not once, but twice, during her allotted witness questioning time. On June 7, she was interrupted by committee Chairman Richard Burr and Senator John McCain while questioning Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Burr, together with McCain, again interrupted Harris on June 13 during her questioning of Attorney General Jeffrey Sessions, Norander wrote. Mainstream and social media took swift notice of these events, primarily speculating about why Harris was the only one to receive such treatment.

Norander examined media coverage of the incidents, noting that progressives framed the interruptions as a product of gender imbalance but tended to ignore or minimize the influence of race. Now, years later, Vice President Harris is still being interrupted in a sense, and feminist scholars are taking notice.

A heightened level of vitriol

Hamilton suggests that a portion of the current criticism is spillover from pre-nomination negative chatter among some Black activists who questioned her positions on criminal justice and related issues.

Dr. Kendra HamiltonBut the volume and scale of the anti-Harris narratives have broadened to include staff changes in her office and low poll ratings, possibly fueled by the ongoing negative reports.

Since she has been in the position [of vice president], we have seen a level of vitriol and targeting that you have never seen with male vice presidents, period, Hamilton says. The notion that theres staff turnover this is routine after the transition in any administration.

Hamilton adds that usually nobody cares about whats going on in the vice presidents office. She believes Harris critics within the Democratic Party are trying to preemptively destroy her reputation. They dont want her to be the standard bearer for the Democratic Party.

However, Hamilton, who describes herself as a Harris supporter, says the attacks are not going unchallenged. In the online community there is giant pushback from the K-hive the people who defend Kamala Harris from online attacks. The K-hive comes out online and swarms everyone.

She says the pushback has been so overwhelming at times that some critics have taken down their comments and retreated from the discussions.

Dr. Julianne MalveauxDr. Julianne Malveaux, dean of the college of ethnic studies at California State Los Angeles, also decries what she calls the unreasonable scrutiny of Harris.

When have we seen that kind of scrutiny on a man? she asks. Malveaux points out that the position of vice president doesnt come with autonomy. President Biden assigned Harris to the Southern border migration issue, which resulted in her being pummeled by not only Republicans but members of her own party.

People need to be reminded that the vice president works at the direction and the discretion of the president, Malveaux says. She cant just go off and do what she wants to do.

'The country is going backward'

Dr. Angela Hattery, professor of women and gender studies and co-director of the Center for the Study & Prevention of Gender-Based Violence at the University of Delaware, touts Harris extensive attributes and qualifications for both the vice presidency and presidency. But, because of the barrage of attacks, she says, The future is bleak for Harris, in terms of her political goals.

Will it end her political career? I dont know, but I think its possible. Partly I think that Obama was too much for white America and the brakes have been put on that for a good long time its sad but I think that might be the case. Hattery Dr. Angela Hatteryadds, Im definitely saying the country is going backward.

She reels off a list of examples of the negative momentum toward progress, including the backsliding on reproductive justice and the Roe v. Wade decision being in peril, voting rights being rolled back in several states, and the fact that schools are as segregated as they were in 1954.

Hattery says Harris rise to the vice presidency may be another example. Every time there has been a gain, whether its a civil rights gain, a womens rights gain or a gay rights gain, those rights have been eroded.

Im an optimist in my personal life, but Im a pessimist in terms of these structural systems, Hattery says, noting that Harris cant be the type of Black woman that white America wants her to be and also be the vice president. Theyre just not compatible. The very thing that white people would want her to do would make her unqualified for the job.

A November 19 article in the Los Angeles Times queried several Democratic politicians and campaign strategists about Harris prospects for the future. There were mainly polite comments about Harris being one of a number of qualified potential nominees (at the time, Biden had not said he intended to seek re-election) and an anonymous operative saying there was concern that she didnt have the skills for the battle ahead.

Malveaux, like Hamilton, believes the pro-Harris forces are formidable. She says an informal network of Black women is fiercely protective of Harris and speaks out often in her defense, reminiscent of the way Black women rallied around Anita Hill. Malveaux says that while there are some things [Harris] might have handled differently, I think she has been subjected to unfair criticism, adding, That girl has tough skin. This stuff is not going to get under her skin and its not going to deter her. I say, just do the work, sister. Just do the work.

This article originally appeared in the February 3, 2022 edition of Diverse. Read it here.

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Women in Academia Examine Criticisms of Kamala Harris After a Year in Office - Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

At least two people suffered severe injuries and several others were hurt Thursday after an explosion at a mansion under construction off McLain Flats Road, sources said Friday.

Emergency dispatchers received a call from the construction site of an 8,000-to-10,000-square-foot home on Slalom Path at 2:26 p.m. Thursday, said Jake Andersen, deputy Aspen fire chief. The home is located near the Sunnyside Trailhead off McLain Flats.

When paramedics, fire trucks and county sheriffs deputies arrived, they found one of the floors of the home had fallen through, walls were down and windows had been blown out of their frames, he said.

The floor was collapsed and multiple walls were displaced, Andersen said. This was a significant event. A lot of people were in the house at the time (of the explosion).

The source of the explosion was unclear Friday morning. Andersen said fire investigators were still trying to determine what caused it and that agents from the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives office in Denver were on scene assisting with the investigation.

An ATF-certified fire investigator is helping with the investigation, though there doesnt seem to be any federal crime involved so the agency was unlikely to take over the investigation, said Crystal McCoy, ATF spokeswoman in Denver.

Damage done to the home on Slalom Path after an explosion on Thursday.Jason Auslander/The Aspen Times

Officials inspect the damage on Friday at the home where an explosion occurred on Thursday that injured several people.Jason Auslander/The Aspen Times

Damage done to the home on Slalom Path, located near the Sunnyside Trailhead off McLain Flats, after an explosion on Thursday.Jason Auslander/The Aspen Times

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Gabe Muething, director of Aspen Ambulance, said the dispatch call was for a gas explosion and that the first two paramedics who arrived on scene encountered significant damage to the basement and first floors of the home.

One of my guys said it looked like someone picked up the home and shook it like a snow globe, he said.

The most seriously injured person on scene was still stuck under drywall, window frames and other debris on the unstable first floor when the ambulance personnel drove up. The paramedics, however, went inside the home anyway, extricated the man from the debris and were able to start triage immediately before taking him to Aspen Valley Hospital, Muething said.

That man was later flown by helicopter to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, he said. Three others who were injured on scene also were taken to AVH, with two admitted and one treated and released. Another four people on scene were treated by paramedics for less serious injuries, Muething said.

All were stable Friday, though the condition of the man taken to Denver was not available, Muething said.

Two suffered severe injuries and two suffered moderate injuries, Andersen said.

To be honest, we really lucked out, Andersen said. It could have been a lot worse.

Ashley Campbell, a spokeswoman for Black Hills Energy, said Friday that crews from the company, which runs the natural gas pipeline infrastructure in Pitkin County, responded to the site Thursday after the explosion.

We completed our onsite assessments and will work with all appropriate agencies as they look to determine a cause, she said in an email to the Times.

A message left Friday for a spokesman at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which may investigate the incident, was not returned.

The home sits on one of three lots on Slalom Path owned by Bob Hurst, vice chairman of New York-based Crestview Partners and retired vice chairman of Goldman Sachs.

Hurst and his wife, Soledad, along with Melony and Adam Lewis, and Paul and Erin Pariser, funded a Lunch for Locals program in January 2021. The program provided free meals daily from the Aspen Art Museum. In addition, Hurst co-chaired the 2020 Rescue Fund, which raised around $3.5 million from 22 Aspen locals, including himself, to help offset COVID-19 pandemic-related financial losses.

The Hursts also hosted a private fundraising dinner for Hillary Clinton when she was seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential race. The fundraiser took place on Jalanda Lane, which is in close proximity to where the home explosion occurred.

jauslander@aspentimes.com

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Aspen-area home explosion sends 4 people to the hospital, injures others - The Aspen Times

In 1933, Joseph Goebbels, chief Nazi propaganda officer, gave a speech designed to incite young students to go forward and burn books. The Nazis were incredibly successful in deceiving their people and creating a level of hysteria that would be necessary to install a fascist regime and wipe out those who were considered to be un-German.

The authors of these un-German books included people like Helen Keller and Albert Einstein. You may recall that the Nazis, who sexually tortured thousands of people, had a problem with people who were gay. They also had a real problem with Jews. As it turned out, they had a real problem with anyone who was not a fascist.

My dad, along with many other dads of people my age, couldnt wait to sign up to fight against this rising, international threat. It took many years, millions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives but in the end, the nations of the world came together to defeat fascism. That was then; this is now.

Today, right now, at this very minute, its happening all over again. We are seeing the rise of authoritarianism and fascism. We are watching in real time as the worlds #1 bully, Vladimir Putin, prepares to physically attack and take over another country. It may have already happened by the time youre reading this, or he may wait until after the Olympics so as not to annoy China.

In America, we saw the rise of authoritarianism in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected president. Fortunately, this man didnt have the inner strength, nor the brain power, to turn America into a fascist state. He was more concerned with amassing more money for himself. He was, however, successful in empowering many other, like-minded crazies who are more than willing to take up the torch and destroy America from within.

History is repeating itself. From a January 2022 article in The Guardian: Literature has already been removed from schools in Texas, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming. Librarians and teachers warn the trend is on the increase, as groups backed by wealthy Republican donors use centrally drawn up tactics and messaging to harangue school districts into removing certain texts.

Then, last week, we witnessed the temporary closure of the Butterfly Sanctuary in Southern Texas: A South Texas butterfly conservatory said it will temporarily close after being warned that it could be a target of a nearby rally headlined by conspiracy theorists and allies of former President Donald Trump. Huffington Post.

The allegations were that the Butterfly Sanctuary was a front for human trafficking and a child-sex ring. Sound familiar? Think of the same allegations that were wagered against a pizza shop in Washington and that Hillary Clinton was operating a child-sex ring there.

And who do you think might be behind this conspiracy? The butterfly center said We Build The Wall founder Brian Kolfage and Steve Bannon, a chief strategist in the Trump White House, attempted to boost fundraising efforts by attacking the sanctuary and Trevio-Wright with defamatory and malicious lies in late 2019 and early 2020. It should be noted that Bannon went after the Butterfly Sanctuary after the sanctuary had the audacity to suggest that the building of Trumps wall was having an impact on butterflies. That was enough to set off macho-bully Bannon. Going after butterflies is right down his alley and should easily bolster his tough-guy image.

The simple fact is, these cowards are no different than the cowards who came before them. There is no difference between the disgraced Mike Flynns, Steve Bannons, Marjorie Taylor-Greens, Paul Gosars, Lauren Boeberts, Madison Cawthorns, Matt Gaetzes and Donald Trumps and the disgraced Joseph Goebbels. They all have a few things in common. They will lie, mislead and distort at the drop of a hat; and they are all power hungry.

What is happening right now in America is what has happened all around the world for many years. In the past, America was revered for being different from fascist, authoritarian countries. America was the country that stood for individual rights. It stood for freedom of, and from, religion. It was the melting pot where all who were willing to work hard and do their part, were welcome. This is what truly made America great.

America is changing fast. You either see whats happening or you don't. If you do see whats happening, you have two choices: You either fight against the rise of fascism in our country or you dont. You either support fascists who want to ban books they dont like, or you fight back. You fight to support all Americans, those who are like you and those who are different from you. You fight for a free and open society where diversity is celebrated and differences of opinion are vigorously debated without fear of bloodshed. You support those who fought and died so that we would not live under fascist authoritarian rule, or you dont.

Bob Stannard lives in Manchester Center.

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Stannard: When they come for books and butterflies - Rutland Herald

During the 2020 election cycle, presidential candidates spent nearly $3 billion on television, radio and digital ads shattering records and demonstrating how important advertising is to campaign strategy. Given the amount of resources dedicated to advertising, understanding how messages influence voter behavior is critical to campaigns.

New research from Washington University in St. Louis is shedding light on how slant the extremeness of the message and consistency with the candidates primary campaign messaging in national television advertisements affected voter behavior during the 2016 presidential election, specifically online word-of-mouth chatter and candidate preference in daily polls.

With the help of recent advancements in text analysis methods, researchers conducted an extensive review of more than 800 national television ads that ran from June through November 2016. The study results were published on Jan. 28 in Quantitative Marketing and Economics by Raphael Thomadsen, professor of marketing at Washington Universitys Olin Business School; Donggwan Kin, a PhD candidate at Olin; Beth L. Fossen, at Indiana University; and David A. Schweidel, at Emory University.

Slant and consistency are two vital dimensions related to the branding of political candidates, with slant representing what the candidate stands for, and consistency representing the extent to which the candidate creates a clear and repeated message of what they represent, which creates the branding of the candidate, Thomadsen said.

Their findings challenge conventional campaign wisdom, which suggests that candidates should moderate their positions and become more centrist after winning the partys nomination.

Looking specifically at Twitter trends, the researchers observed that both candidates, on average, experienced a 30% increase in online word-of-mouth chatter between the five-minute window before an ad was shown and the five-minute window after an ad was shown. However, political ads with messages that were extremely Republican or extremely Democratic decreased the volume of candidate-related word of mouth, especially in earlier stages of the campaign.

Theres a caveat to that finding, though: Centrist messages in political ads did generate more online word-of-mouth and higher daily poll ratings, but the benefit of centrism was lost if those same messages were inconsistent with the candidates primary election platform.

We find that consistency with the primary message, which is generally more partisan, is also important, Thomadsen said. What that means, to me, is that the branding is important and that the benefit of moving to the center can be offset or even more than offset by the loss of the consistency of the message that such a move necessitates.

It also demonstrates why candidates who have stuck with more extreme messaging have not suffered as much as political scientists focused on the median voter theories would believe they would.

The importance of both centrism and message consistency were largest in the early stages of the general election, which seems to suggest that people may be more responsive to a candidates messages in political ads early in the campaign, Thomadsen said

This goes against the advice that some consultants give, which is that no one pays attention until late in the race. Our analysis suggests the opposite the candidates brand is built early in the race, and then at the end things become more of a scrum for voters, Thomadsen said.

According to Thomadsen, slant and consistency have traditionally been difficult to study on a large scale because the research was labor intensive, but new text analytics tools make the research more efficient. In the present study, authors were able to dig deeper beyond the traditional focus on tone, source and volume of advertising for a more nuanced understanding of how political ads impact voter behavior.

This goes against the advice that some consultants give, which is that no one pays attention until late in the race. Our analysis suggests the opposite the candidates brand is built early in the race, and then at the end things become more of a scrum for voters.

This research is among the first in marketing to use text analysis to derive message-related metrics that are linked to the performance of television commercials, Thomadsen said. Similar approaches could be used outside of political marketing, by product and service marketers, to assess the importance of message consistency in an efficient and automated way.

In total, the analysis included 824 ad airings for 60 unique ad creatives aired by 11 political advertisers, including campaigns, political parties and seven PACs. National television advertising buys account for more than 25% of all campaign television spending a share that is expected to increase as the rising cost of local ad inventory in battleground markets increases, according to Thomadsen.

Slant was measured by analyzing the language used in the ad, including topics and specific word choice. Ads that featured language primarily used by one party were labeled extreme, while ads that included language used by both parties were labeled centrist. Examples of extreme messaging included ads that focused on national security, immigration, gender equality and health care. The technology also captured other dimensions, such as attack phrases frequently used by a candidate and other phases that set the tenor of their campaign.

To study message consistency, the team compared ad content to primary campaign speeches. Daily poll data on voter preferences and online chatter about the candidates on Twitter provided measures for voter behavior impact.

Altogether, Hillary Clinton had more ad airings, while ads supporting Donald Trump had larger audience sizes. Ads supporting the two candidates were comparable in tone, length and ad position.

While most of the national ads were fairly centrist, Trumps ads tended to be somewhat more centrist than Clintons ads. Some of Trumps ads leaned toward Democratic ideology, such as his promised support for gender equality, including equal pay and support for child care.

Likewise, some of Clintons leaned toward Republican ideology, including ads that discussed threats from nuclear weapons or the Islamic state. Overall, Clintons ads had a higher level of consistency than Trumps.

Trumps presidency was more conservative than his 2016 campaign, so we remember those aspects of his messaging more, Thomadsen said. His first campaign had a lot of messages for the center, or even the left, of the country. He advocated for family leave, for example.

Taken together, the results suggest that it would be advantageous for candidates to adhere close to their primary campaign messages in the early stages of the general election and emphasize moderate or time-specific messages as the election further develops, the authors wrote.

Further, the results suggest that the rising use of extremist messages in political advertising may be a flawed strategy for candidates that could decrease candidate-related word-of-mouth volume and voter preference for the candidate.

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Research demonstrates importance of consistent branding in political television ads - The Source - Washington University in St. Louis - Washington...