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The Hamilton Electors a bipartisan coalition of Electoral College members who, in December attempted to thwart Donald Trumps election by depriving him of some of the 270 electoral votes he needed to become president are now re-entering the news.

A judge in Washington stateissued a ruling during aWednesday administrative hearingpermittingSecretary of State Kim Wyman to impose a $1,000 fine on four state electors who didnt vote for Hillary Clinton even though they had pledged to. Though Clinton won 57 percent of the states popular vote, three of those electors backed former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Theyre now planning to appealthe decision.

Its just the start of what is probably going to be a longer fight to try to get these state laws, which are patently unconstitutional, found so by the Supreme Court, explained Bret Chiafalo, a Democrat and a leader of the Hamilton Electors. Its a continuation of what we were trying to do which is just honor the Constitution. And the administrative hearing the one that just occurred is just the first step. Administrative hearings cant really address constitutional issues. The next step will be a state appeals court.

In order for the Hamilton Electors to have succeeded, they would have needed to persuade at least 37 of the electors pledged to Trump to abandon him for an alternative candidate (Trump received 306 electoral votes to Clintons 232). As a demonstration of the fact that this was about country instead of party, a number of Democratic electors would have gone along with them.

Instead only two Republican electors defected, along with five Democrats.

So what happened?

Theres no telling for sure, because were talking about the minds of about 37 to 50 [potential dissident Republican] electors, but I can give you my best guess, Chiafalo explained in an email. A big part of it was the fact that Republicans Republican Party infrastructure spent quite a bit of money on lobbying individual electors. And from what weve heard, Republican electors were told that their political careers would be over if they did this. And they were also told that this was a grand trick by Democrats to get Hillary elected.

Continued Chiafalo, As we understand it, a lot of money was spent on this lobbying effort. And we believe ultimately that thats a big part of what wound up happening. Because we had up to 50 Republican electors who were seriously considering it up to a week before the vote.

Chiafalo, and the rest of the electors, knew by the end that their efforts would be in vain, which is why they abandoned their initial plan of trying to convinceRepublican electors to vote for Gov. John Kasich instead of Trump.

Basically, by the time that the three of us in Washington state voted, we knew that our grand plan had ultimately not succeeded, Chiafalo said. And we had a conversation. . . half an hour before voting about what we were going to do to honor the spirit of the Hamilton Electors, and the spirit of what we were trying to do, and we decided to go with Colin Powell. He is certainly a Republican, but we believed hed be a superior president to John Kasich.

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Requiem for the Hamilton Electors: By voting against Hillary Clinton, they face fines and a massive what if? - Salon

There is a Russian influence scandal. It just has nothing to do with President Trump.

The entire Trump Russian scandal narrative is complete utter nonsense. Democrats are so desperate to stop Trump, theyre clinging to a Saturday Night Live comedy skit with the full cooperation of their liberal lackeys in the mainstream media.

Theyve just made a YUGE mistake. And its all going to blow up in their face.

First, a few Trump aides had conversations with the Russian ambassador, or Russian officials. Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions was a U.S. senator at the time. Thats part of his job.

But talk about hypocrisy. It turns out many Democrat U.S. senators had the same meetings. So did House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. They all met with the same Russian ambassador.

Secondly, Democrats seem to think talking to Russians is a crime. They even throw around words such as treason. But they see no issue with Democrats taking millions of dollars from Russians?

Because it turns out, according to the Daily Caller, that Tony Podesta, brother of Hillarys national presidential campaign manager John Podesta, is a super lobbyist who took huge money from the Russians in order to end U.S. government sanctions against Sberbank, Russias largest bank.

Not only did the brother of Hillarys campaign manager take huge money from the Russians to represent a foreign governments biggest bank, but his firm accepted more than $24 million in fees in 2016, much of it from foreign governments.

If Democrats want congressional investigations into Russian connections, I say we give them major investigations. Lets start with Hillary Clinton, John Podesta and his brother Tony.

Why Hillary herself, you ask? Ive been publicly talking about this story for many years. The Clinton Foundation was from the start a bribery and extortion racket set up by the former president of the United States and his wife, the secretary of state. They didnt just talk to Russians or other foreign governments and foreign leaders. They accepted massive bribes, disguised as charitable donations.

This happened while Hillary was secretary of state. Even the Gambino crime family couldnt dream up an extortion racket this big.

I can hear famed mob attorney Oscar Goodman advising his clients, You cant possibly extort foreign governments in plain sight while youre secretary of state. Are you out of your mind?

But why would any of this audacity shock anyone. Never forget the king of Morocco donated $12 million to the Clinton Foundation only on the condition that Hillary show up at his event.

Bill Clinton received a $1 million birthday present in return for a five-minute meeting with the leaders of Qatar.

There are many more instances of donations traded for access to the U.S. secretary of state. But none of them beats the $145 million received by the Clinton Foundation in return for Secretary of State Clinton selling 20 percent of the U.S. uranium stock to guess who?

The Russians.

If phone calls to Russians merit an investigation, what is the significance of the Clinton Foundation accepting $145 million from the Russians, while Hillary was secretary of state and being lobbied by these same people to sell off Americas valuable resources? Or Hillarys campaign managers brother lobbying on behalf of Russias biggest bank while his brother runs her campaign for president?

But Hillary has one more problem. If Putin and Russia get sick and tired of being a piata for Democrats, guess what they might do? Democrats claim Russia hacked Hillarys deleted emails, right? They seem so certain. Well maybe Russia will choose to release all 30,000 emails. Tomorrow.And then well all find out what Hillary discussed in writing that she so badly needed to make disappear.

Good luck, Hillary. The Democrats just opened up one YUGE can of worms. It was the biggest mistake of your lives.

Wayne Allyn Root (Wayne@ROOTforAmerica.com) is a best-selling author and host of WAR Now: The Wayne Allyn Root Show from 3 p.m. o 6 p.m. daily at 790 Talk Now. His R-J column runs Thursday and Sunday.

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COMMENTARY: What about the Russians and Hillary Clinton? - Las Vegas Review-Journal

Hillary Clinton was back in Washington the other day, giving a speech to a womens group.

As we all stop to look fear in the face, the result has not only been action, but passion, said the woman who nearly everyone thought would now be the nations first female president. Never lose your optimism, your persistence and your resistanceresistance, of course, being a key phrase for those opposing the man who beat Clinton.

Other than that, the only time Ive seen Hillarys image is when President Trump greeted a tour group at the White House and happened to stand next to a portrait of the former first lady.

Theres the occasional sighting at a Broadway play or during a walk in the Chappaqua woods. But the woman who would now be dominating the news if 70,000 votes in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania had gone the other way is instead edging into the spotlight after a bitter defeat.

The question now: Has the Democratic Party moved on from Clintonism?

Both the left and right are asking that question as the party tries to rebuild in the Trump era. I have no idea who might emerge for 2020, given the strikingly thin bench, or whether the party wants to go further left or try to recapture the working-class voters that it lost to Trump.

It seems the Democrats havent really had that debate, even with the low-profile chairmans race won by Tom Perez. But some in the media are starting to examine the rubble left by 2016.

Its not that Hillary herself has a political future. In a Rasmussen poll, 58 percent of likely voters dont want her to run again, while 23 percent would like to see that.

But a Clinton-like candidate might face the same lack of excitement for a program of incrementally improving government, even without her flaws as a candidate.

On the other hand, a Bernie-style populist could connect on issues like trade, but might simply be too liberal to win a general election.

Bill Clinton, as it happens, gave a talk yesterday that chastised Trump without naming him, using such code words as "nation-state":

The whole history of humankind is basically the definition of who is us and who is them, the former president said. He said some people--the guy who defeated his wife?--have found more political success and met the deep psychic needs people have had to feel that their identity requires them to be juxtaposed against someone else.

Whats interesting is how Salon sees Clinton as having blundered by pretty much running as the anti-Trump:

Of all the strategic blunders made by Hillary Clintons presidential campaign, the most consequential apart from neglecting the Rust Belt states may have been the campaigns ill-advised decision to portray Donald Trump as an outlier in the GOP who did not represent true Republican values.

In the early stages of her campaign, Clinton went out of her way to defend the Grand Old Partys reputation and highlight some of the conservative critiques of Trump, so as to emphasize her opponents uniquely deplorable nature.

That backfired spectacularly, the piece says, by alienating progressives and boosting Trumps underdog status.

Heres the money part:

The grand irony here, of course, is that liberals not leftists are the ones who have started to sound increasingly like alt-right conspiracy theorists. While alt-right Info-Warriors spew their conspiracy theories about the deep states planning a coup against Trump or about former President Barack Obamas wiretapping of Trump Tower, liberals have gone in the other direction, embracing their own overwrought conspiracy theories with an all-powerful Vladimir Putin at the center of it all.

But Putin is not responsible for the Democratic Partys losing control of nearly 1,000 state legislature seats and all three branches of government during the Obama years.

National Review, by contrast, thinks the party remains in the Clintonian grasp:

If you want to understand why Donald Trump is in the White House, you only need to glance at Hillary Clinton. She was a grim and mediocre candidate. She inspired few. She terrified many. And yet, in certain circles, this reckoning has failed to sink in. Meanwhile, the Clinton hagiography continues.

But the argument seems to rest on some attention being paid to Chelsea Clintons tweets. Such as this one about Trumps planned EPA cutbacks: How is clean water controversial? Who thinks its ok for anyone to drink toxic water? Truly asking as I just dont get it.

Chelsea can say whatever she wants, but I dont see her as a future party leader. This piece, however, says 2017s odd Clinton-related frenzy reflects something more: Namely, the failure of the Left to recognize their Hillary problem.

No one knows what the political landscape will be like after four years of Trump. But if the Democrats think they can win back the White House just by running against him, as opposed to offering a positive alternative, they will be repeating Hillarys mistake.

Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.

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After Hillary: Are the Democrats ready to move beyond Clintonism? - Fox News

By: Reuters | New York | Published:March 10, 2017 11:15 am Republican Donald Trump triumph and Democrat Hillary Clinton. (Source: File Photo)

Cable channel HBO said on Thursday it is planning a dramatized TV miniseries about the extraordinary 2016 U.S. presidential, one of the first of several such projects being discussed in Hollywood. No casting, title or broadcast date was announced for the HBO project, which comes from the same team that produced the award-winning Game Change film about the 2008 election that starred Julianne Moore as then Republican vice-presidential contender Sarah Palin.

The 2016 election campaign that saw Republican Donald Trump triumph over Democrat Hillary Clinton last November was one of the most dramatic in living memory. It is also the subject of a TV miniseries treatment being developed by Zero Dark Thirty movie screenwriter Mark Boal, the Hollywood Reporter said in February.

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A third miniseries project, looking at the behind-the-scenes drama of Trumps campaign, is also making the rounds in Hollywood, entertainment website Deadline reported last month.

The announcement by HBO, a unit of Time Warner, appeared to mark the first of the various ideas to win a commitment from a major broadcaster. HBO said its series would be based on an upcoming book by political journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann about the campaign. Jay Roach, who directed Emmy-winner Game Change will return to direct, and Tom Hanks is one of the executive producers.

Len Amato, president of HBO Films, said in a statement that the project promises to vividly capture the most unique and impactful event in modern American politics.

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Donald Trump- Hillary Clinton election campaign to get HBO miniseries treatment - The Indian Express

Hillary Clinton speaks during the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards at the The John F. Kennedy Center on March 8 in Washington D.C. | Getty

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged a crowd of female leaders Wednesday to keep up the "resistance" in her second set of public remarks given on International Women's Day.

Appearing at the 16th annual Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards, an event dedicated to honoring and developing women in leadership roles, the 2016 Democratic nominee said she felt encouraged by the groundswell of grassroots mobilization she's seen since losing her bid to become the United States' first female president.

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''As we all stop to look fear in the face, the result has not only been action, but passion," she told a crowd of female leaders at the Washington D.C., event.

Clinton, who said being among the group of female role models and innovators that she helped found felt "like coming home," urged those in attendance to continue to take steps toward furthering gender equality.

Never lose your optimism, your persistence and your resistance," she said. "We can build the future we envisioned when we started on this journey with Vital Voices two decades ago, for women, for girls around the world and for us here at home.

The former first lady also said that the current political climate beckoned for more female voices. ''Our voices have always been vital but they've never been more vital than they are now," she added.

Clinton's remarks echoed her statements during a luncheon earlier Wednesday, when she said she hoped to see a surge in political representation for women in the coming years.

Let us hope there is a wave of young women running for office in America, Clinton said as she accepted an award from the Girls Inc non-profit in New York. And lets be sure we support them in every way we can. Lets help them shatter stereotypes and lift each other up.

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Hillary Clinton's message to women: Never lose your resistance - Politico