Saturday Open Thread | Clinton Donor Got on Sensitive Intelligence Board

Posted on June 11, 2016 by SouthernGirl2

Rajiv FernandoNewly released State Department emails help reveal how a major Clinton Foundation donor was placed on a sensitive government intelligence advisory board even though he had no obvious experience in the field, a decision that appeared to baffle the department’s professional staff.

The emails further reveal how, after inquiries from ABC News, the Clinton staff sought to “protect the name” of the Secretary, “stall” the ABC News reporter and ultimately accept the resignation of the donor just two days later.

Copies of dozens of internal emails were provided to ABC News by the conservative political group Citizens United, which obtained them under the Freedom of Information Act after more the two years of litigation with the government.

Rajiv Fernando is seated on the far left of the image.

A prolific fundraiser for Democratic candidates and contributor to the Clinton Foundation, who later traveled with Bill Clinton on a trip to Africa, Rajiv K. Fernando’s only known qualification for a seat on the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) was his technological know-how. The Chicago securities trader, who specialized in electronic investing, sat alongside an august collection of nuclear scientists, former cabinet secretaries and members of Congress to advise Hillary Clinton on the use of tactical nuclear weapons and on other crucial arms control issues.

“We had no idea who he was,” one board member told ABC News.

rajiv emails

Fernando’s lack of any known background in nuclear security caught the attention of several board members, and when ABC News first contacted the State Department in August 2011 seeking a copy of his resume, the emails show that confusion ensued among the career government officials who work with the advisory panel.

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
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96 Responses to Saturday Open Thread | Clinton Donor Got on Sensitive Intelligence Board

    • yahtzeebutterfly says:
      June 11, 2016 at 10:33 pm

      Regarding the above:

      ASALH stands for the “Association for the Study of African-American Life and History”

      Reply
  2. rikyrah says:
    June 11, 2016 at 9:37 pm

    It’s 85 degrees at 9:30 at night 😥😡😢

    Reply
  7. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    June 11, 2016 at 8:37 pm

    Just would like you to know that an unpublished manuscript of history Carter Woodson was discovered and then published in 2005 titled “Carter Woodson’s Appeal.” I am reading it tonight. (Carter’s working title for the manuscript was “The Case of the Negro” and the editor of the 2005 publication felt that no doubt post-WW1 issues and event impacted Carter’s thoughts.)

    Here is an excerpt from pages 91 and 92 of Carter’s “Appeal” :

    This should be sufficient to disabuse the minds of the Negroes of the thought that they can by their attachment to any particular party solve their problems. Neither party is interested in social justice. Both are trying to use the government for the good of the machines. Negroes should direct their attention to larger problems of life which when properly solved will take care of Negroes’s political and civil rights. Ordinary common sense should be sufficient for one to understand that a racial group numbering about one-tenth of the population of a large country can never hope to gain anything by constructing and carrying out a policy intended to influence the whole country to do special things on its behalf. Only so far as the Negro can connect his needs with socialistic and economic forces now effecting the reconstruction of the world can the race claim any consideration from the public. The world is too large and too busy to consider the special needs of a people who have only one or two avenues out of a difficult situation.

    As far as connecting needs with economic forces, history has seen how economic boycotts have been successful… Montgomery bus boycott, the Future Outlook Leagues boycott of stores to achieve Black employment, and so on.

    Reply
  8. rikyrah says:
    June 11, 2016 at 7:43 pm

    snicker

    Furious GOP donors stew over Trump
    At an exclusive Park City retreat, some of the Republican Party’s top financiers lashed out at their nominee.
    By ALEX ISENSTADT 06/11/16 03:01 PM EDT

    PARK CITY, Utah — Donald Trump is trying to win over a skeptical Republican donor class, but they’ve closed their wallets — and they’re angry.

    On Friday afternoon, at an exclusive Republican donor retreat here hosted by Mitt Romney, frustration boiled over. During an off-the-record question-and-answer session with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Meg Whitman, the billionaire Hewlett Packard chief executive officer, confronted the speaker over his endorsement of Trump. Whitman, a major GOP giver who ran for California governor in 2010, compared Trump to historical demagogues like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and wanted to know how the speaker could get behind him.

    At another discussion session during the day, which featured top Romney alumni Stuart Stevens and Matt Rhoades, Ana Navarro, a Republican contributor and ubiquitous cable news personality, called Trump a “racist” and a “vulgarian and a pig who has made disgusting comments about women for years.” (Neither Whitman nor Navarro would comment.)

    Even Ryan, who has endorsed Trump despite criticizing his behavior, joked during his presentation on Friday that in a recent conversation with magician David Copperfield, he said that he wished he could make himself disappear.

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      June 11, 2016 at 8:46 pm

      Meg Whitman needs to go have a stadium full of seats…

      This is the same wicked woman who fired and told the undocumented immigrant help that had worked for her family for yearsand practically raised her sons for her, to lose her number…when she was running for Governor of California…

      A billionnaire who was hard-pressed to tell you what she had given or done for charity…a billionaire woman who could have easily hired and paid for an immigration attorney to help her undocumented immigrant slave labor…but chose not to…

      There are few more wicked and racist and entitled than Meg Whitman…not even Trump comes close…

      Ana Navarro spent years disrespecting the historic black First Lady, but Ana Navarro just like Megyn Kelly before her, wants you to believe that she’s offended by Trump’s racism, vulgarity and misogyny…

      LOL…

      You couldn’t make this stuff up if one tried…

      I’m not going to let any of these evil opportunists try to use Trump to cover their well-documented tracks, or to use him to attempt to revise their erstwhile nasty images…or redeem themselves and slinker onto some faux moral high ground that is all imaginary…

      No Sir..

      Reply
  10. rikyrah says:
    June 11, 2016 at 7:39 pm

    This is comedy gold.

    Trump on Jeb endorsement: ‘Who the hell cares?’
    June 11, 2106, 12:56 pm

    Donald Trump on Saturday went after one of his favorite targets, tearing into Jeb Bush in his home state of Florida.

    During a rally in Tampa, Fla. Trump mocked the former Florida governor’s failed presidential run.
    Trump noted Bush’s low polling throughout the contest, which placed him at the edge of the stage at Republican debates.

    “I was center stage at every debate,” Trump said.
    Trump disparaged former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on his home turf, calling him “Jebba” and dismissing his one-time primary rival’s political clout.
    “You know the way guys were falling off the ends? I said ‘Jeb, you’re not gonna be here much longer, you’re pretty far down there Jeb-ah. You’re not going to be here much longer, Jeb. You gotta get tougher, Jeb.’ ”

    “I don’t think he’s going to endorse me, do you folks?” Trump asked the crowd, before dismissively adding: “Who the hell cares?”
    Bush has said he will not vote for Trump in November.

    Reply
  11. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    June 11, 2016 at 7:27 pm

    “Barn renovation preserves a piece of Montgomery’s African American history”
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/barn-renovation-preserves-a-piece-of-montgomerys-african-american-history/2016/06/11/5a7df254-300f-11e6-b5db-e9bc84a2c8e4_story.html

    Excerpt:

    The barn sits in an area known to have seen a lot of Underground Railroad activity, and it belonged to a slave-owning Quaker family, showing the sometimes complicated lives of people who lived near the Mason-Dixon line…

    Sandy Spring is also known for its historic community of Quakers, a faith group known around the country for members’ early opposition to slavery.

    Yet Woodlawn historians show that life along the North-South border was not simple.

    The barn tour tells stories of residents including William Palmer, a Quaker physician whose family ran a successful agricultural business from the Woodlawn plantation. Although Quakers in the Sandy Spring area generally were opposed to slavery, Palmer married an Episcopalian whose father owned slaves.

    When the older man died and Palmer and his wife inherited the slaves, he would not give them up and was “read out,” which means he was “formally disavowed from the Society and was no longer considered a Friend” — or part of the Quaker community.

    Reply
  12. SouthernGirl2 says:
    June 11, 2016 at 7:17 pm

    We’re on our way to College Station to eat. Little Parker is coming too. It’s 11 of us.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 11, 2016 at 5:45 pm

      Hi Angelar. Thank you. I would love to see photos of Malia with FLOTUS if you come across any.

      I understand where Eliihaas was coming from. The First Lady is Malia’s mother. The media makes it seems like Malia comes from a one-parent household, sans Michelle-her mother.

      Reply
      • eliihass says:
        June 11, 2016 at 6:33 pm

        Thanks Ametia for getting my sentiments – which are very well-known..

        I’m quite sick and tired of everyone treating FLOTUS as if she’s just marginally incidental .. no, these days…invisible and completely discounted..

        And worse, women…mothers…black women, black mothers …going along with this messed up and incredibly disrespectful and frankly unacceptable and cruel attempt to erase this historic First Lady …including in her proud role as mother …the role she gave up everything including the powerful career her Princeton and Harvard education was certainly going to afford her..

        This is not some woman who met a ready-made man…this is a woman who was already practicing law having been recruited to the prestigious firm upon graduation…when she met her future husband who was still a law student…

        To hear them tell it, she hitched her wagon to his…and he did her and continues to do her the favor…she’s ‘lucky’ they say..

        I just can’t with this rubbish…I can’t…

        Reply
      • eliihass says:
        June 11, 2016 at 6:35 pm

        This is how Chelsea Clinton’s graduation from the same schools was covered…and only pictures showing her and BOTH her parents were used throughout…

        http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-chelsea0606grad.jpg-photo.html

        Reply
      • eliihass says:
        June 11, 2016 at 6:41 pm

        “…President and Mrs. Clinton stand with their daughter Chelsea after her high school graduation ceremony Friday, June 6, 1997 at Sidwell Friends School..”

        “..It was graduation day for Chelsea Clinton on Friday, and the President and First Lady arrived at the elite private school just moments before the graduation ceremony started…”

        And when she was off to Stanford, this is how the media covered it…

        “…Chelsea Clinton and her parents will arrive with fanfare on Friday. But after that, Stanford vows it will be life as usual on The Farm…”

        Reply
      • rikyrah says:
        June 11, 2016 at 6:46 pm

        Eliihaas didn’t have to explain anything to me.

        I understood it all.

        I know that Michelle Obama was the primary breadwinner in the Obama family – UNTIL THE SENATOR DID HIS SPEECH IN 2004 AND HIS BOOK SALES TOOK OFF.

        until that time, Michelle Obama held it down, and was the primary financial support and emotional foundation for the family.

        Michelle Obama only stopped working after the Iowa Caucus, if I remember correctly.

        Reply
      • eliihass says:
        June 11, 2016 at 7:35 pm

        Thanks Rikyrah…

        And if anyone noticed in the media coverage then..

        It was President and Mrs Clinton…not President and Michelle Obama…or President Obama and ‘Michelle’..

        Notice also that it was ‘First Lady’…as opposed to today’s ‘first lady’ they use for FLOTUS…I suppose the AP/New York Times rule about ‘first lady’ not being an official title, hadn’t kicked in yet…

        And the story talked about the ‘parents’…

        Reply
      • yahtzeebutterfly says:
        June 11, 2016 at 7:56 pm

        Angelar,
        I feel I must correct your misunderstanding. You mistook a comment from me as being a comment from Eliihass. (She did not respond there to you) :
        https://3chicspolitico.com/2016/06/10/happy-15th-birthday-natasha-sasha-obama/#comment-552627

        You wrote this right after my comment:
        https://3chicspolitico.com/2016/06/10/happy-15th-birthday-natasha-sasha-obama/#comment-552643

        Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 11, 2016 at 2:45 pm

      Don’t think for one minute that folks who support Trump aren’t gearing up to create videos showcasing Hillary & Bill’s schemes as well.

      Reply
      • yahtzeebutterfly says:
        June 11, 2016 at 5:29 pm

        Exactly.

        Reply
      • eliihass says:
        June 11, 2016 at 6:20 pm

        Trust me when I tell you there’s something in the offing..

        There’s something about Mika’s and Joe Scarborough’s sharp turn on Trump that reads as if this has been coordinated with Trump … the Clintons are about to be seriously blindsided…something tells me they have no idea what’s about to be heaped on them..

        Trump has nothing to lose politically…You can only ‘expose’ so much, a sleaze bag that everyone already knew was a sleaze bag…including you when you were taking his money, golfing with him, attending his weddings and socializing with and defending him..

        Reply
      • Liza says:
        June 11, 2016 at 11:24 pm

        Trump will strike back. He already refers to her as “Crooked Hillary” on Twitter. I wonder if Hillary thought it was advantageous to strike the first blow, or if she just wanted to get the mudslinging underway now that she thinks she’s got Bernie Sanders squashed like a bug.

        It they are going to alternate between who is a crook and who is a monster or a fascist or a racist or a Hitler or whatever, folks are going to tune this out. Who wants to listen to this for the next five months?

        Reply
      • yahtzeebutterfly says:
        June 12, 2016 at 6:50 am

        Yes, Liza.

        It’s like a junk car race between the two of them.

        Reply
  21. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    June 11, 2016 at 1:01 pm

    So funny :)

    Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    June 11, 2016 at 11:46 am

    FYI:

    The Body Shop is having their barnburner sale right now.

    I stocked up on their soaps, most of which are now just $2.

    Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    June 11, 2016 at 11:37 am

    Growing Up McGhee has moved to the UP network. The 6 kids are definitely a handful :)

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 11, 2016 at 11:57 am

      No surprise here. Which is why qualified Black women need to take responsibility for positioning ourselves in more political leadership roles.

      Of course we know that we can’t come with a Curriculum Vitae listing ‘Under FBI investigation.” That will never fly!

      Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    June 11, 2016 at 10:59 am

    Guess who went camping with her Girl Scout troop?

    Yes…I had a half-day yesterday to make sure that they had everything they needed.

    She was SO excited. :)

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 11, 2016 at 11:38 am

      BWD can have a stadium full of seats, if she can’t acknowledge the Clinton campaign gave rise to the birtherism with that Clinton surrogate, Stephanie Tubbs Jones’ comment about her “having no problem with Obama wearing his county’s native clothing”

      GIRL BYE

      Reply
      • eliihass says:
        June 11, 2016 at 6:12 pm

        She is one of those ‘supporters’ I refer to when I go on my rants…I simply can’t abide her…She’s one of the phoniest, most disingenuous, most dubious and quite frankly in my opinion, suspiciously odd creatures…I always thought there were a few keys missing..

        Her sharp switch in recent years – and her amusing attempts at appropriation when it suits her dubious purposes, is quite laughable..

        Sometimes I almost fall off my seat in incredulity when I read stuff that’s attributed to her..

        It helps to have known many of these folks from the start…You know their number, even when they think they’re being slick…or even when they think they’ve perfected the art of duping us to get buy-in to *their* agenda, by tying it to somehow being beneficial to – or about the President..

        Don’t even get me started..

        Reply
    • SouthernGirl2 says:
      June 11, 2016 at 12:21 pm

      See, this is why I have a problem with people like BWD. They are fake as everything. She’s totally ignoring what the 2008 Clinton campaign did to Barack Obama. Hillary’s surrogate went on MSNBC and giggled like an idiot about Barack Obama being in the clothing of his country. BWD can have a stadium full of seats and stay there until she come to terms with Hillary running a naked racist campaign in 2008. Until then, I’m done with bs people pretending the other guy is racist. GTFOOH!

      Reply
      • Ametia says:
        June 11, 2016 at 1:33 pm

        OOPS! THERE TIS!

        Reply
      • Ametia says:
        June 11, 2016 at 1:36 pm

        They really want us to forget, because PBO has? Michelle has? These bloggers & Tweeters have? Even if they did, which I doubt, the game of racial politics does not BODE WELL for me, nver has, never will. It hurts too many people, cuts through too many open & unhealed wounds.

        We face various forms of RACSIM 24/7. I’m not a victim to it, but it’s a fact. I call it out at every turn. I’M NOT HAVING IT.and nor is my family & friends.

        Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 11, 2016 at 11:33 am

      Wow, just heart-breaking. I can’t imagine the grief from her family.

      Why are they calling the man who shot her a suspect? HE FLAT OUT MURDERED her in plain sight.

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      June 11, 2016 at 5:57 pm

      Campbell Brown..? LOL..

      Anything that comes out of Campbell Brown’s mouth must not only taken with boatloads of salt, it must be completely discounted and ignored..

      Two Words … Dan Senor.

      Reply
  41. rikyrah says:
    June 11, 2016 at 10:23 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

    Reply
  42. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    June 11, 2016 at 10:10 am

    “Did Gershwin Get His ‘Rhythm’ from African-American Composer William Grant Still?”
    http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/did-gershwin-get-his-rhythm-african-american-composer-william-grant-still/

    Gershwin, it proposes, heard Still play a string of four notes that would eventually accompany the iconic song lyric, “I’ve Got Rhythm.”

    Director George C. Wolfe, who oversaw the current production, heard this story from the composer of the original 1920s musical, Eubie Blake. Wolfe said: “It was a riff that William Grant Still would play every night in Shuffle Along.”

    It would take nine years before the riff found its way into George Gershwin’s song “I Got Rhythm,” which premiered in his 1930 musical, Girl Crazy.

    According to Still’s granddaughter Celeste Headlee, host of On Second Thought from Georgia Public Broadcasting, “that’s a totally true story.” She says, ”Listen to the third movement of Still’s Afro-American Symphony, and you can hear the notes that Gershwin used.” The riff comes 20 seconds into the video below.

    (You can listen to this if you click on the above article link.)

    Reply
  44. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    June 11, 2016 at 9:52 am

    “Western Illinois University eliminates women’s studies, African-American studies”

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-western-illinois-university-black-studies-womens-studies-20160611-story.html

    Reply
  45. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    June 11, 2016 at 9:39 am

    “How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions”
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/nyregion/donald-trump-atlantic-city.html?_r=0
    Excerpt:

    On the presidential campaign trail, Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, often boasts of his success in Atlantic City, of how he outwitted the Wall Street firms that financed his casinos and rode the value of his name to riches. A central argument of his candidacy is that he would bring the same business prowess to the Oval Office, doing for America what he did for his companies.

    “Atlantic City fueled a lot of growth for me,” Mr. Trump said in an interview in May, summing up his 25-year history here. “The money I took out of there was incredible.”

    His audacious personality and opulent properties brought attention — and countless players — to Atlantic City as it sought to overtake Las Vegas as the country’s gambling capital. But a close examination of regulatory reviews, court records and security filings by The New York Times leaves little doubt that Mr. Trump’s casino business was a protracted failure. Though he now says his casinos were overtaken by the same tidal wave that eventually slammed this seaside city’s gambling industry, in reality he was failing in Atlantic City long before Atlantic City itself was failing.

    But even as his companies did poorly, Mr. Trump did well. He put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen.”

    Reply
  46. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    June 11, 2016 at 9:09 am

    On this day in 1963 President John F. Kennedy delivered his civil rights speech:

    https://youtu.be/KVdZBtlSirI&rel=0

    Reply
  47. SouthernGirl2 says:
    June 11, 2016 at 6:46 am

    Good morning, everyone! Happy Saturday!

    Guess who’s with me today? My little Parker!

    Reply

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