How Many Clinton Cronies Under Investigation?

Let's see, Hillary herself is the subject of an investigation into her use of a private email account when she was secretary of state, her two New York buddies, Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo, are undergoing various investigations and now this:

Washington (CNN)Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and prosecutors from the Justice Department's public integrity unit, U.S. officials briefed on the probe say.

The investigation dates to at least last year and has focused, at least in part, on whether donations to his gubernatorial campaign violated the law, the officials said.

 

McAuliffe wasn't notified by investigators that he is a target of the probe, according to the officials. 

"The Governor will certainly cooperate with the government if he is contacted about it," said Marc Elias, attorney for McAuliffe campaign, in a statement to CNN.

 

As part of the probe, the officials said, investigators have scrutinized McAuliffe's time as a board member of the Clinton Global Initiative, a vehicle of the charitable foundation set up by former President Bill Clinton. 

 

 There's no allegation that the foundation did anything improper; the probe has focused on McAuliffe and the electoral campaign donations, the officials said.

Another day, another investigation into a Clintonista.

What The Clinton Shills Don't Get: Few Trust Hillary Clinton

Had some fun on Twitter with a Clinton shill calling me a liar for this post here entitled "Hillary Clinton Vows To Close Every Public School In The Country."

His message was basically the same one that I've seen elsewhere on the Internet as the "Clinton Wants To Destroy Public Education" meme has rolled along and Clinton shills have begun to push back on it - Clinton doesn't want to close all the schools that are rated "below average," as she said wanted to in the Iowa clip, she simply misspoke.

But the thing that Clinton shills and apologists don't get here is this - given Clinton's elasticity with truth and honesty, given her past fondness for school closures, DFER, charter schools, and the Common Core, given the fondness her pals at the Center for American Progress (basically a Clinton administration in exile ready to roll into power as soon as she's elected) have for this same stuff, given her shillery for Walmart in the past and given the fact that she's a Clinton and no one believes a word these people say, it doesn't matter what she really meant.

See, couple the Clinton administration's ed deform policies in the past with the betrayal that many felt when Barack Obama doubled down on the Bush ed deform policies of NCLB with his Race to the Top program and you have an entire generation of teachers out there not going to cut these lying politicians any slack when they "misspeak" or say stuff that sounds kooky (as Clinton did.)

The larger issue here for me, and why I even blogged the thing in the first place (if you notice, it's almost all Cuomo/NY all the time here at Perdido Street School blog these days, so I'm not doing much 2016 presidential race stuff) is that it was the perfect crystallization of the mistrust many teachers have for Democratic politicians in general and Clinton in particular.

That people didn't give her the benefit of the doubt over this "misspeak," that even now she needs the shills to go around defending her, goes to show you just how little trust or affection she has among many rank and file educators these days.

How do you know when a Clinton's lying?

You don't have to try and figure it out because they're ALWAYS lying.

Meritocracy American Style Redux: Chelsea Clinton Edition

I've already covered the absurdity of Chelsea Clinton getting paid $600,000 a year by NBC to work as a special correspondent and the even bigger absurdity of Clinton saying publicly that she deserved that compensation because she works hard.

The absurdity grew to new heights yesterday when it was disclosed that Chelsea gets paid $75,000 every time she gives a speech:

There is a new Clinton paid to deliver speeches — Chelsea, the former first daughter — and she is commanding as much as $75,000 per appearance.

Aides emphasized that while Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton often address trade groups and Wall Street bankers, Ms. Clinton, now 34, focuses on organizations whose goals are in line with the work of the family’s philanthropic organization, the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation. Organizers said her star power helped sell tickets and raise money.

And unlike her parents’ talks, Ms. Clinton’s speeches “are on behalf of the Clinton Foundation, and 100 percent of the fees are remitted directly to the foundation,” said her spokesman, Kamyl Bazbaz, adding that “the majority of Chelsea’s speeches are unpaid.” The Harry Walker Agency, the firm that represents her parents’ engagements, handles Ms. Clinton’s talks on behalf of the family foundation.

The family speechmaking business is a lucrative one and has generated more than $100 million for her parents over the past decade as they hopscotched the globe. Their fees range from $200,000 to $700,000 per appearance, and Mr. Clinton alone earned $17 million last year giving speeches.

Her parents' connections got her a well-paid job at McKinsey.

Her parents' connections got her a well-paid job at NBC.

That's what she's done with her life so far.

What could she possibly share in a speech that anybody would want to pay $75,000 to hear it?

Here's what the Times says she shares:

Ms. Clinton’s speeches focus on causes like eradicating waterborne diseases. (“I’m obsessed with diarrhea” is a favorite line.) And she dispenses lessons picked up from her family. (“Life’s not about what happens to you, it’s about what you do with what happens to you,” she likes to say.)

I said in my last Chelsea Clinton post that she had risen above Jenna Bush on my list of Presidential Offspring Deserving Of Derision.

The news that she's getting paid $75,000 a speech puts her even higher on that list.

Just another example of how the elite take care of their own.

Chelsea Clinton Is As Full Of Shit As Her Parents

From The Daily News:

Hillary Clinton insists she isn’t “well-off” and now daughter Chelsea, according to a recent interview, claims she couldn't care less about money.

“I was curious if I could care about (money) on some fundamental level, and I couldn’t,” she told Fast Company in an interview that ran in the magazine's May edition, explaining why she gave up lucrative gigs to join her family’s philanthropic foundation.

Comparing her experience to the average millennial, the 34-year-old former first daughter defended jumping around to different careers — from consulting to a hedge fund to academia to journalism — before finding her true calling working with her parents.

“It is frustrating, because who wants to grow up and follow their parents? I’ve tried really hard to care about things that were very different from my parents … it’s a funny thing to realize I feel called to this work, both as a daughter and also as someone who believes I have contributions to make,” she continued about her reluctant status as a boomerang kid.

The Clinton name likely opened doors for the political heiress, including an eye-popping $600,000 annual salary for an irregular stint as an NBC special correspondent, but Chelsea insists her work speaks for itself.

“I will just always work harder (than anybody else) and hopefully perform better,” said Clinton, who along with former banker husband Marc Mezvinsky, purchased a $10.5-million Gramercy Park apartment in 2013. “And hopefully, over time, I preempt and erase whatever expectations people have of me not having a good work ethic, or not being smart, or not being motivated.”

If you didn't "care" about the money they paid you at NBC for the reports you did, why take all $600,000 of it?

I'm sure NBC would have happily paid you less for your work.

As for your claiming you work harder than anybody else and perform better, actual journalists at NBC beg to differ:

Though the network said she was “warmly welcomed” to headquarters at Rock Center, others described Clinton as demanding and underwhelming in her journalistic chops.

“There were ground rules, what she could and couldn’t report, only good news, no politics,” one NBC insider told BuzzFeed in 2012 about the process of bring her onboard.

Yeah, sounds like you so performed better than anybody else at your job, Chelsea.

Man, I didn't think there was any presidential offspring I could feel more scorn for than Jenna Bush, but Chelsea "Full of Shit" Clinton just made the list.

Meritocracy, American style.

Meritocracy, American Style

Everybody who makes a lot of money or enjoys great wealth worked very hard to get that - everybody knows that.

Take the example of Chelsea Clinton, for example:

Chelsea Clinton earned an annual salary of $600,000 at NBC News before switching to a month-to-month contract earlier this year, sources with knowledge of the agreement told POLITICO.

Clinton, who joined NBC News as a special correspondent in November 2011, was up for renewal or nonrenewal this year. Instead, the sources said, the network decided to keep her on the payroll on a month-to-month basis so the two parties could sever ties if Clinton’s mother, Hillary Clinton, runs for president.

...

When Clinton joined NBC, many media critics chafed at the network’s decision to employ a former first daughter with no experience in journalism. The New York Post referred to Clinton as “just another spoiled, aimless child of rich, successful parents chauffeured through adulthood by Mommy and Daddy’s connections.”

Yet Clinton’s appointment did not mark the first time NBC Universal had hired children of high-ranking politicians. In 2009, it hired George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna Bush Hager to serve as a correspondent on the “Today” show. In 2011, it hired Sen. John McCain’s daughter Meghan McCain as a contributor on MSNBC.

According the Daily News, Clinton is considered "demanding" and not very talented as a journalist by her fellow NBC journalists.

Though the network said she was “warmly welcomed” to headquarters at Rock Center, others described Clinton as demanding and underwhelming in her journalistic chops.

“There were ground rules, what she could and couldn’t report, only good news, no politics,” one NBC insider told BuzzFeed in 2012 about the process of bring her onboard.

I wonder how many stories she did for $600,000?

Nice work if you can get it.

But you can't.

Unless your Chelsea Clinton, Jenna Bush or Megan McCain.

While I'm sure Luke Russert isn't making anywhere near what the above three are from NBC, there's another fine example of “just another spoiled, aimless child of rich, successful parents chauffeured through adulthood by Mommy and Daddy’s connections.”

Meritocracy, American-style.