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This is the time when foreign governments are ratcheting up their respective lobby operations in the United States, we are in a major election cycle. Not only will ad agencies hired by countries like Saudi Arabia but they will work to troll and re-tool attitudes and propaganda.
This began as noted at least last Fall and there will be a higher, more robust objective that will fund those in Washington DC and those hoping to have domestic influence in DC in 2016.
Hillary and her top campaign architect, John Podesta are the core designers and recipients of foreign influence.
Intercept: Saudi Arabia is in the market for a better reputation in Washington, D.C.
In September alone, foreign lobbying disclosure documents show the Saudi government signing deals with PR powerhouse Edelman and lobbying leviathan the Podesta Group, according to recent disclosures.
Edelman, the largest privately owned public relations agency in the world, is known for helping clients win favorable media coverage on mainstream outlets. The Podesta Group is a lobbying firm founded by Tony Podesta, a major fundraiser for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
The new signings are the latest in a year-long hiring spree by the Persian Gulf state as it further builds up its already formidable political arsenal inside the Beltway. The Saudi Arabian Royal Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
In March, the Saudi Royal Embassy retained two influential lobbying firms, DLA Piper and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. DLA Piper, for instance, employs a small army of former government officials, including retired U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and George Mitchell. Also in March, the embassy retained two firms that specialize in analyzing big data for political clients, Targeted Victory and Zignal Labs.
Saudi Arabia’s political operation already includes former Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who chairs one of the largest Republican Super PACs in the country, as well as the public relations firm MSLGROUP/Qorvis, and Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company that funds several influential American political groups, including the American Petroleum Institute. Aramco’s U.S. subsidiary, Saudi Refining, is a registered agent of the Saudi government. The government also finances a number of think tanks and universities, and has made contributions to prominent American nonprofits, including the Clinton Foundation.
The Podesta Group contract is with the Center for Studies and Media Affairs at the Saudi Royal Court. The contract, filed in the Justice Department’s foreign lobbying database, says that the firm will provide “public relations” work for the center.
“It is our company policy not to comment further on our work for clients beyond what is required by law and to direct reporters and other interested parties to our clients for any additional information,” said Missi Tessier, a spokesperson for the Podesta Group, when reached for more information about the relationship.
Edelman’s contract calls for the firm to “engage with opinion influencers, establish media engagement opportunities for [sic] principal, and assist in opinion editorial placement” on behalf of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority.
The Saudi regime is currently facing yet another public relations crisis as the Kingdom moves to execute Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, the young nephew of a government critic.
The nation also faces international outcry over the widespread killing of civilians in Yemen. Since March, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition that includes the U.S., U.K., Egypt and several Persian Gulf nations to support the Yemeni government in its war against the Houthi rebels. The Saudi-led coalition has repeatedly attacked schools, hospitals, and other civilian targets, including recent reports of a wedding party that was bombed, killing over 100 people.
Last week, I spoke to a number of lawmakers about Saudi human rights abuses, but found them extremely reluctant to criticize the Kingdom. Disclosures reveal that the lobbying firms that have worked for Saudi Arabia for years communicatefrequently with senior members of Congress. Beyond entrenched military and economic ties between Saudi Arabia and the United States, the Kingdom appears to be working to maintain its political clout.
If Hillary wins, imagine what Bill is gonna do with all that time on his ah…hands….will he just wander around the White House? nah….
ABCNews: Hillary has called Bill her “secret weapon.” Her GOP opponents, however, have wasted no time in trying to make him a liability.
At a campaign rally last week, Republican front-runner Donald Trump accused the former president of “tremendous abuse” toward women, calling him “one of the great abusers of the world.” Trump has continued to escalate his attacks, invoking Bill’s affair with Monica Lewinsky and tweeting that Bill has “demonstrated a penchant for sexism.”
Republican candidate Rand Paul echoed Trump, calling Bill “a great abuser of women in the workplace.” Carly Fiorina has also called Bill’s past “fair game” for attack.
Breitbart: Bill Clinton reportedly made nearly $50 million from more than 220 paid events that the State Department approved while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, according to an Associated Press report.
Mainstream media outlets have been scrutinizing the Clintons, especially Bill Clinton’s speaking fees that doubled or tripled after his wife became Secretary of State, after the many revelations in Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large and Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer’s Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich. NBC News reporter Andrea Mitchell said Schweizer’s blockbuster book was a “playbook”for any news organization investigating the Clintons and was “overshadowing” Hillary Clinton’s campaign rollout.
According to the Associated Press, the Office of Government Ethics reportedly warned that the State Department’s office “has extremely limited capacity to respond to the increased demands on its program” and said that it was “concerned about the lack of compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements in the areas of financial disclosure, annual training and ethics agreements.”
Foreign governments with atrocious human rights records and banks dealing with scandals paid Clinton hefty sums for appearances.
Barclays paid Clinton $650,000 for two appearances in 2011 just months after it “agreed to pay nearly $300 million in penalties for violating financial sanctions against Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Libya and Burma.”
The Associated Press also found that UBS Bank paid Clinton $840,000 for five events in 2011 and 2012 “less than two years after the Swiss bank had acknowledged a massive tax evasion scheme aiding American clients and paid $780 million in penalties.”
In December of 2011, the United Arab Emirates reportedly paid Clinton $600,000 to appear at a “government-sponsored event.” In 2010, the State Department approved a Bangkok event that was reportedly “sponsored by a Thai government energy ministry and state gas firm.”
The report found that the State Department did not approve of an event at the China Philanthropy Forum in 2012 because of “concerns that the event’s sponsor was an association made up of former and current senior Chinese government officials.” But nine months after Hillary Clinton left the agency, Bill Clinton “eventually spoke at the forum’s annual conference.”
Bill Clinton has vowed to continue his paid speeches and appearances while his wife runs for president, telling NBC News, “I got to pay our bills.”
DailyCaller: Numerous organizations had disassociated themselves from Bill Cosby even before the comedian was charged with a crime for any of the alleged sexual assaults he committed over the years. Colleges and universities have scrubbed the formerly-beloved TV dad’s name from their buildings. Others have rescinded honorary degrees given to Cosby and more have returned donations he has provided.
But one organization that has yet to make a move regarding Cosby is the Clinton Foundation.
As was reported earlier this year, the “Cosby Show” creator gave between $1,001 and $5,000 to the non-profit organization operated by former president Bill Clinton and his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Even as dozens of women came forward to accuse Cosby of sexually assaulting them over the past several decades, the charity declined to relinquish the Cosby cash. And in a particularly awkward interview in July, Clinton campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri hemmed and hawed when asked whether the Foundation would return the money.
(CNN)The State Department on Thursday afternoon released new emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but the tranche was smaller than required for this month.
“We have worked diligently to come as close to the goal as possible, but with the large number of documents involved and the holiday schedule we have not met the goal this month,” the State Department said in a statement to reporters Thursday morning.
The State Department was supposed to release over 8,000 pages of emails Thursday — 16% of Clinton’s total available emails — but released approximately 5,500. Additional emails will be released “sometime next week,” the department said.
Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find in the final email dump of 2015:
Mark Penn suggested HRC ‘consider resigning’ after Obama’s ‘more flexibility’ hot mic moment
During a meeting at the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, President Barack Obama was caught on a live mic telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev he would have “more flexibility” to negotiate sensitive issues, like missile defense, “after my election.”
The content of their discussion was quickly transmitted around the world, eventually making its way to Clinton by way of an enraged former aide and longtime pollster Clinton family pollster Mark Penn.
“This could be about the stupidest thing ever said by a president in foreign policy,” Penn wrote in an email to Clinton, then suggesting she “consider resigning” if the kerfuffle compromised her politically.
“What is this referring to?” a puzzled Clinton asked, forwarding Penn’s message to foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan, who explained the situation, adding a dose of calm: “It is not good — at all,” he writes, “but I think Mark may be pushing it a bit far.”
‘You look cute’
When a photo Hillary Clinton went viral — “The Texts from Hillary” meme, which repeatedly featured an image of her wearing sunglasses and thumbing away on her Blackberry — all chief of staff Cheryl Mills said was, “You look cute.”
Clinton was tipped to the viral hit in an April 5, 2012 email from Russell Potter, a State staffer, who wrote “Not sure if you’re aware of this and its recent ‘life’ on Facebook. “Seems everyone is posting it.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checks her PDA upon departure in a military C-17 plane from Malta bound for Tripoli, on October 18, 2011.
Clinton replied later “Why now? That was on way to Libya?”
Clinton later rode the hit to some fame but also saw it used by opponents after it was discovered she had been using a private email server.
Who gets to ride with Hillary?
As flow charts and organizational structures go, perhaps none was as important as the one top Clinton aide Philippe Reines set up to determine who rides with the former secretary of state.
Looking like it was punched up on a MS-DOS word processor, it starts with one simple question: “Is Huma here?” and ends, more than a page later with the ever-important question of whether Reines himself gets in with Clinton.
And if Reines is already in the limo/SUV? “Chutzpah!”
And when nobody showed him any love, Reines sent it around again to show how much work he put into it.
“I did NOT/NOT receive sufficient appreciation for the below. Only Jake reacted. It took HOURS to get the formatting right. Literally hours to ensure it would work on every size font,” Reines wrote. “Without positive reinforcement I’m not sure I can continue to really invest myself in these missives/diatribes.”
Sullivan forwarded the chart to Clinton with just one line “See below.”
Kissinger gets impatient
For anyone out there thinking it takes too long to declassify old State Department email, you’ve got a friend in Henry Kissinger.
The former secretary of state and top foreign policy adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford wrote to Clinton in February 2012 complaining that, despite having paid $150,000 to have his files digitized in an effort to to “accelerate” the process, “that has clearly not happened.”
“Let me show you the magnitude of the problem” he continued. “Jeff Smith has been advised by the National Declassification Center that, of the 559,679 pages I donated and are on the RAC, the State Department has responsibility to review 259,402 pages. Of that total, the Department has declassified only three pages (yes, three) that are ready for public release.”
‘Why is being on a cruise ship a dangerous or difficult situation!’
In one chain from 2011, Clinton and senior aide Sullivan seem to mock an American citizen stranded in Egypt after the embassy closed amid escalating protests.
Clinton was forwarded excerpts from an interview that vacationer Laura Murphy gave to CNN, in which the latter woman called U.S. response “grossly insufficient” and “quoted the ambassador as saying, ‘You’re on a lovely cruise ship, I suggest you stay there.'”
“What’s this about?” Clinton asks.
“Dissatisfaction by (American citizens) with our support in helping them leave,” Sullivan says in his response, suggesting the State Department send out a “good comms person.”
“Agreed,” says Clinton. “But, why is being on a cruise ship a dangerous or difficult situation!”
“A fine question!” Sullivan replies.
Murphy was stranded on a river cruise that had been anchored in Luxor after the captain was warned that stops along the Nile could be dangerous for tourists.
Murphy wasn’t the only person on the cruise to express frustration.
PBS travel-show host Regina Fraser told CNN at the time that the U.S. embassy transferred her call for assistance to an automated message, which advised her to go to their website — this despite the fact that she had no Internet access.”
‘Good info, sadly’
Here’s an inside look at some delicate negotiations between the administration and the New York Times over new details emerging from Benghazi in the days after the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attack.
Following what appears to be some high level back-and-forth, at least one official seems to shrug and concede a disputed story is going to be published. Why’s that? The emailer concedes that the reporter “had good info, sadly.”
Who’s the “biggest jerk” in all of foreign service?
Of the many notes and memos Sidney Blumenthal passed Clinton, this one may carry the greatest insight but with the clawing realization the world will never find out who is one of the “biggest jerks” in diplomacy.
Blumenthal passed along this advice from John Kornblum, who was an ambassador to Germany under Bill Clinton:
“‘Just for the record, if she does not already know it, (redacted) is one of the biggest jerks in the foreign service. Not only can he not get along with people or think clearly on anything, he also went totally over to the dark side during the Bush administration. He is in a league with (redacted) on this one. He once literally shouted me down at a conference where I suggested the Bush administration was hurting U.S. relations with Europe.'”
Team Clinton speculates over Obama hit
It was summer of 2010 and Democrats were getting anxious — rightfully, as it turned out — about the coming midterm elections. In a Financial Times story, one unnamed White House adviser put the onus on the President himself.
“I never thought I would say this, but even I’m unsure what President Obama really believes,” the individual is quoted as telling reporter Henry Luce. “Instead of outsourcing decisions to Congress, he should spell out his bottom line. That is what leaders are for.”
In an email flagging this to Clinton, while piling scorn on top Obama political aide David Axelrod and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Blumenthal suggested Tom Daschle and John Podesta as potential sources.
“Why do you think it might be Daschle?” Clinton asks. “Or Podesta?”
We don’t see his response, but we do know this: Podesta is currently the chairman of Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Clinton reaction to being photo-shopped out of Situation Room pic
Remember when Der Tzitung, a Brooklyn-based Hasidic newspaper, photoshopped Clinton out of that now-famous photo of a packed White House Situation Room during the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound?
Clinton was on that story early, apparently reading about it on a blog, which cited an item in the Jerusalem Post, and not pleased.
They’d done it, she told her aides, “perhaps because no woman should be in such a place of power or that I am dressed immodestly!!”
Then, signing off drolly, Clinton writes:
“And so, Happy Mother’s Day.”
What’s confidential and what’s not
The emails released on Thursday included 275 that had been upgraded in whole or part to “classified,” and redacted accordingly, a State Department official told CNN.
However, the official added that none of the emails contained information that was classified at the time they were sent of received — something Clinton has repeatedly emphasized as she campaigns for the presidency.
Most of those emails were upgraded to the lowest classified level, “Confidential,” but two were upgraded to the higher level of “Secret.”
Why are we getting these emails now
The State Department was ordered to release all of Clinton’s work-related emails by Judge Rudolph Contreras as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by journalist Jason Leopold. The case came after it was revealed that Clinton used a private email server to conduct official business while leading the department.
In May, Contreras ordered the State Department to “aspire to abide” to a monthly production schedule, releasing specified numbers of emails at the end of each month up until January 29, 2016.
While the schedule is aspirational, the department must also submit reports each month to explain its progress. State Department attorneys will therefore have to explain the failure to meet the December quota in a filing to Contreras next week.
Terror struck in Paris one week into the New Year when a group of men with extensive ties to terrorist organizations targeted the offices of a famed satirical newspaper. Two men shot their way into the offices of Charlie Hebdo while a third waited near the getaway car. The shooters forced their way into the publication’s offices, killing a maintenance man and police bodyguard assigned to protect the editor after he received death threats. Once arriving at the office, they proceeded to kill nine others, mostly editorial staff gathered for their weekly meeting, injuring an additional 11. A faction of al Qaeda claimed responsibility.
The attacks continued in France for two more days, taking the lives of six others, including two police officers and four people held hostage at a kosher grocery store in Paris. The three perpetrators also died.
PARIS 1/11/2015
More than 40 world leaders marched in honor of the 17 victims of terrorist attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket.
PHOTO:A screengrab taken from an AFP TV video on March 24, 2015 shows search and rescue personnel making their way to the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 that crashed in the French Alps above the southeastern town of Seyne.
A major aviation mystery in 2015 differed from the series of crashes the previous year in that the plane’s recording device led investigators to a suspect shortly after the deadly crash: the co-pilot. The recording from inside the cockpit of Germanwings Flight 9525 during the March 24 flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf indicated that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the lead pilot out of the cockpit during a break and proceeded to direct the plane toward the mountains of the French Alps, killing all 150 passengers and crew on board.
“The intention was to destroy the plane,” Brice Robin, the public prosecutor of Marseille, said during the investigation.
PAYNESVILLE, LIBERIA 1/26/2015
Benetha Coleman, a nurse’s aide and Ebola survivor, comforted an infant girl with symptoms of the disease in a high-risk treatment area.
Amtrak Train Crash
PHOTO:Emergency personnel work at the scene of a deadly train derailment, May 13, 2015, in Philadelphia.
A train derailment in Philadelphia killed eight and injured more than 200 Amtrak passengers in May after the Northeast Regional train sped around a curve and went off the track. The train’s engineer. who survived, could not explain what caused the deadly crash. The National Transportation Safety Board led the investigation into the accident and determined that the train accelerated before the crash and had been traveling in excess of 100 mph, which was more than twice the speed limit for that area of the track.
MIRONOVKA VILLAGE, NEAR DEBALTSEVE, UKRAINE 2/17/2015
A child played cards in the local Palace of Culture, used as a bomb shelter during fighting between the Ukrainian Army and Russian-backed militants.
Prison Escape in New York
PHOTO:In this handout from New York State Police, convicted murderers David Sweat and Richard Matt are shown in this composite image.
One of the biggest stories of the summer seemed like something straight out of a Hollywood movie. It involved two prisoners, a sexual liaison with a prison worker who smuggled tools hidden in frozen meat and a midnight escape with a smiley-faced getaway note. David Sweat and Richard Matt, both convicted murderers, escaped from the maximum security Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York on June 6, crawling out of sewage pipes and digging through cell walls a la “The Shawshank Redemption.”
TAIPEI, TAIWAN 2/4/2015
A picture from a video of a TransAsia Airways plane as it struck an elevated highway before plunging into a river, killing 43 people.
On-Air Shooting in Virginia
PHOTO:WDBJ-TV7 news morning anchor Kimberly McBroom, center, gets a hug from visiting anchor Steve Grant, left, as meteorologist Leo Hirsbrunner reflects after their early morning newscast at the station, Aug. 27, 2015, in Roanoke, Va.
The gunman in another tragic shooting claimed it was the racism of the Charleston church shooting that prompted him to create a scene of carnage in the late summer. Vester Lee Flanagan, a disgruntled former news anchor, shot two of his former colleagues while they were on the air on location for a Roanoke, Virginia, TV station. The Aug. 26 shooting left reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward dead. Flanagan later posted a video on social media of the shooting that he appeared to have filmed during the attack using a portable camera. He also sent a manifesto and called ABC News after the shooting. He shot himself to death during a car chase with police later that day.
SELMA, ALA. 3/7/2015
President Obama marched with thousands across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Major Murder Trials
PHOTO:Former Marine Cpl. Eddie Ray Routh stands during his capital murder trial at the Erath County, Donald R. Jones Justice Center in Stephenville Texas, Feb. 24, 2015.
Four of the biggest trials of the year all resulted in guilty verdicts and one of those murderers now faces a death sentence. The first verdict came in February when Eddie Ray Routh was found guilty of killing “American Sniper” Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield. Though Kyle was well-known before the trial because of his bestselling book, the case gained even more national attention when his biopic came out just over a month before the trial started. Routh received a sentence of life without parole. He has filed a notice of appeal.
HILLAR CLINTON email scandal
A key aid to Hillary Clinton is the focus of a separate FBI investigation into the former secretary of state’s use of a private unsecured server. Bryan Pagliano, who invoked his Fifth Amendment right more than 500 times to avoid testifying before a House Committee investigating the Benghazi terrorist attack. Investigators are trying to determine more about Clinton’s use of a private server that contained highly classified material.
OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT HACK
The massive hack into federal systems announced last week was far deeper and potentially more problematic than publicly acknowledged, with hackers believed to be from China moving through government databases undetected for more than a year.
MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND 3/3/2015
Secretary of State John Kerry, center, took a break during a meeting with Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, over limiting Tehran’s nuclear program.
PHOTO:Aaron Hernandez watches as Robert Kraft entered the courtroom during the murder trial of former New England Patriots tight end at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River, Mass., March 31, 2015.
Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez was found guilty in April and sentenced to life in prison without parole after killing Odin Lloyd, who was dating Hernandez’ fiancee’s sister. The case turned into a family drama as both Hernandez’s fiancee, who was granted immunity for her testimony, and her sister took turns on the witness stand. His appeal is underway.
PHOTO:In this June 24, 2015, file courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, right, stands before U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. as he addresses the court during his sentencing, in federal court in Boston.
In another case, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving brother of a pair of siblings, was found guilty in April of all 30 charges that he faced in connection to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and his ensuing flight from police, which included the killing of an MIT police officer. One month later, he was sentenced to death after the conclusion of the penalty phase of his trial. The first of many expected appeals is underway.
BALTIMORE 4/28/2015
Community members formed a buffer between the police and protesters at dusk, a day after protests over the death of Freddie Gray turned violent.
EL CHAPO GUZMAN ESCAPE from prison
PLANNED PARENTHOOD VIDEOS, BABY PARTS
WASHINGTON 4/16/2015
President Obama, in the Rose Garden, signed the so-called doc-fix bill, which permanently ended automatic Medicare payment cuts to doctors.
CATHEDRAL CITY, CALIF. 4/3/2015
In California, where lush developments like this one abut bone-dry desert, the governor imposed mandatory water restrictions after a long drought.
BHAKTAPUR, NEPAL 4/29/2015
Residents retrieved belongings from homes four days after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the country and left over 9,000 dead.
IN THE ANDAMAN SEA OFF THAILAND 5/14/2015
Rohingya migrants on a fishing boat, part of an exodus in which thousands of people took to the sea to flee ethnic persecution in Myanmar.
ROOSEVELT ISLAND, N.Y. 6/13/2015
Hillary Clinton was joined onstage by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, at a rally to kick off her presidential campaign.
SANA, YEMEN 6/12/2015
Yemenis searched for survivors at a Unesco World Heritage Site after an explosion that witnesses said was caused by Saudi airstrikes. Saudi Arabia denied responsibility.
COLUMBIA, S.C. 7/10/2015
The massacre of nine black churchgoers in Charleston was a catalyst for the permanent removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s state house.
ATHENS 7/10/2015
A pensioner waited to withdraw money from Greece’s national bank. The country implemented more austerity measures to address its debt crisis.
MANHATTAN 7/10/2015
The United States women’s soccer team celebrated at a ticker-tape parade after winning the World Cup.
KOS, GREECE 8/15/2015
Laith Majid, an Iraqi, broke out in tears of joy, holding his son and daughter, after they arrived safely in Kos on a flimsy rubber boat.
HORGOS, SERBIA 8/31/2015
A mother rested with her daughter and other relatives in a field during their almost two-month journey to escape violence in Syria.
JPOA IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
European Refugee Crisis
PHOTO:A refugee holding a boy react as they are stuck between Macedonian riot police officers and refugees during a clash near the border train station of Idomeni, northern Greece, Aug. 21, 2015.
Tens of thousands of people fleeing war-torn Syria and other areas in the Middle East and Africa spent much of this summer making the laborious, and dangerous, trek through Europe toward countries including Germany and Sweden in hopes of finding asylum. The influx of refugee families prompted international disputes and policy shifts as countries such as Hungary started to close some of their borders and put up fences with razor wire to prevent people from entering. President Obama’s plan to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States met with stiff resistance from some House Republicans who have called for stricter certifications that none of the immigrants poses a security risk.
Same-Sex Marriage Debate
PHOTO:The front of the White House is lit in the color of the rainbow, June 26, 2015, after the United States Supreme Court issued the decision in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that same-sex marriage is legal in all states.
The Supreme Court made a landmark decision in June, voting to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide. The 5-4 decision was praised by many, including President Obama, who called it a “victory for America.” But not everyone was pleased with the decision. A county clerk in Kentucky became a touchstone for the national debate after she claimed it was against her religious beliefs to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Kim Davis was jailed for nearly a week for defying a judge’s order to issue any marriage licenses in Rowan County.
Pope Francis Visits the US
PHOTO:Pope Francis places a white rose on the names of the September 11 victims at the edge of the South Pool of the 9/11 memorial in New York, Sept. 25, 2015.
One of the biggest moments of national excitement came when Pope Francis made his inaugural visit to the United States, sweeping the country up in a serious case of Pope-mania. His visit started in Washington, D.C., after a trip to Cuba, and he went on to visit New York and Philadelphia before returning to the Vatican. Some of the highlights of the trip included a historic address to Congress, frequent rides in his Fiat and a particularly memorable moment shared with a baby girl dressed up like a pope.
WASHINGTON 9/23/2015
President Obama welcomed Pope Francis to the White House during the pope’s first visit to the United States.
Another Terror Attack in Paris
PHOTO:A photo shows a makeshift memorial for a tribute to the victims of a series of deadly attacks in Paris, in front of the Carillon cafe in Paris, Nov. 23, 2015.
A series of coordinated terror attacks struck fear through the heart of the French capital on Friday Nov. 13. A combination of shooters and men wearing explosive vests targeted a football stadium, restaurants and a concert venue that evening, leaving 130 people dead.
French officials determined that the attackers had ties to ISIS, which has claimed responsibility. The alleged ringleader of the attacks was killed five days later when authorities raided his apartment in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. An international manhunt is still underway at this time for at least one other suspect.
GREECE-MACEDONIA BORDER, NEAR IDOMENI, GREECE 8/26/2015
A child stood near police controlling a rush of refugees into Macedonia.
CLEARLAKE, CALIF. 8/3/2015
A firefighter was silhouetted by his headlamp as he battled the Rocky Fire, a wildfire that spread over three counties and burned over 60,000 acres.
HAVANA 8/14/2015
Workers hanging the seal of the United States at the reopened American Embassy.
TIANJIN, CHINA 8/15/2015
Rows of motor vehicles were destroyed in chemical explosions that killed 160 people and were strong enough to register on earthquake scales.
Russia’s air campaign in Syria has killed hundreds of civilians and caused massive destruction in residential areas, according to a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International.
SHANKSVILLE, PA. 9/3/2015
A new visitor center and museum told the story of Flight 93, forced down by passengers after it was hijacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY 9/5/2015
A Syrian father, center, slept with his son and other family members on the floor of a bus driving from Budapest to Vienna.
HUNGARY-SERBIA BORDER, NEAR HORGOS, SERBIA 9/16/2015
A man tried to save his child as Hungarian police officers fired tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons at migrants trying to cross into the country.
BODRUM, TURKEY 9/2/2015
Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose drowning off the coast of Turkey drew public sympathy to the refugee crisis.
KOBANI, SYRIA 10/27/2015
Nine months after coalition airstrikes and Kurdish fighters repelled an invasion by the Islamic State, the city was still in ruins.
MANHATTAN 10/21/2015
New York City police officers stood at attention as the remains of Officer Randolph Holder, who was killed on the job, were taken from a Harlem hospital.
WASHINGTON 10/29/2015
Representative John A. Boehner hoisted a box of tissues to laughter during his farewell remarks before the House elected Paul D. Ryan to replace him as speaker.
The Metrojet Airbus 321, bound for St Petersburg and carrying mostly Russian citizens, crashed in Egypt’s Sinai desert just 23 minutes after take-off from Sharm el-Sheikh.
PARIS 11/13/2015
A victim outside the Bataclan theater, where 90 people were killed during coordinated terrorist attacks that left 40 more dead across the city and in a northern suburb.
SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. 12/7/2015
A candlelight vigil commemorated the 14 victims of a mass shooting by a radicalized Muslim couple.
BEIJING 12/8/2015
Schools were closed, driving restricted and factories shut down after China’s capital issued its first ever “red alert” for air pollution.
WASHINGTON 12/12/2015
The lectern in the Cabinet Room of the White House where President Obama announced a historic agreement among 195 nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
RAMADI, Iraq 12/27/2015
Iraqi forces with U.S air support are taking back ‘some’ neighborhoods in the Anbar Province.
DALLAS, Texas 12/27/2015
Tornado devastation in Texas killing 48.
Photo essay taken in part from the two websites below, that offer additional text and photos.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/year-review-13-biggest-news-stories-2015/story?id=35852690 and http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/27/sunday-review/2015-year-in-pictures.html?_r=0
FreeBeacon: A watchdog group that has asked the federal government to investigate a number of possible ethics violations involving Hillary Clinton has named the presidential candidate the worst ethics violator of 2015.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) released its list of worst ethics violators Tuesday, placing Clinton in a “league of her own” due to ongoing ethics scandals involving the former secretary of state.
The watchdog cited a number of examples as evidence Clinton abused her government position and violated ethics rules, including a recent report that then-secretary of state Clinton gave preferential treatment to a business associate of her son-in-law in 2012.
Last week, FACT filed a complaint with the Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether Clinton gave special government access to an investor at a deep-sea mining company because of his connection to her daughter’s husband, Mark Mezvinsky.
Revelations about Clinton’s intervention on behalf of her son-in-law, first reported by the Associated Press, were uncovered in the most recent batch of Clinton emails that the State Department has been vetting and releasing since it was discovered that the former secretary of state exclusively worked on a personal email account. The FBI is currently investigating Clinton’s email setup.
The complaint unveiled by FACT last week was one of multiple that the watchdog filed this year related to Clinton. FACT has also asked the federal government to investigate the Clinton Foundation’s payments of nearly $350,000 to Clinton’s failed 2008 presidential campaign to rent an email list, allegedly illegal interactions between Clinton’s current presidential campaign and Ready for Hillary, her political action committee, and meetings between Clinton’s team and Senate Democrats.
“Elected officials are sent to Washington to follow and uphold the law and so they need to be held to the highest standard of ethics. Even the appearance of impropriety can quickly erode public trust, and Mrs. Clinton is in a league of her own,” FACT executive director Matthew G. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney, said in a statement.
“We will continue to vigorously hold the lantern over unethical behavior so that we have a government that serves the public’s interest, not the self-interests of leaders who think they are beyond reproach.”
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday, nearly six in 10 American voters do not trust Hillary Clinton.
