Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for May, 2016

In Virginia on her “Breaking Down Barriers” tour, Hillary spent a part of the day after Mother’s Day hearing from parents about the challenges of juggling family duties, work, and related struggles like commuting and providing benefits as small business owners.  Daycare was a major topic at the roundtable where kids and babies were welcome and very well-behaved. Hillary punctuated the Virginia visit with a stop at a daycare center where selfies and hugs reigned supreme, and Hillary was in her element.

05-09-16-Z-15 05-09-16-Z-16 05-09-16-Z-17 05-09-16-Z-18 05-09-16-Z-19 05-09-16-Z-21 05-09-16-Z-22 05-09-16-Z-23 05-09-16-Z-2405-09-16-Z-20

donate

VOLUNTEER

phone calls

Read Full Post »

In Loudoun County, Virginia, Hillary sat down with working moms and dads facing every challenge there is as they try to raise their kids, support their families, and navigate the overlap between home and work demands.


Balancing work and family isn’t a Democratic or a Republican issue, but it should be a voting issue. Join Hillary for a roundtable discussion on paid leave, health care, child care, and work-life balance with Virginia families.

 

Inline image 1
 
In Loudoun County, Virginia, Clinton Emphasizes Her Commitment to Young Parents and Families


Today, Hillary Clinton began a two-day tour of Virginia and Kentucky where she will meet with women and young families to discuss issues important to them. In Loudoun County, Virginia, Clinton held a conversation with young parents about the challenges of balancing work and family. The average age in Loudoun County is just under 35 years old, and 73 percent of households with children in the county have two working parents. During the discussion, Clinton emphasized the importance of investing in early learning programs and making quality child care affordable for working families, as well as ensuring that families have good schools and affordable college as their kids grow up.

As First Lady of Arkansas and a young mother herself, Clinton 

helped introduce

 the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program, which provided resources for parents to better educate their children at home before they begin kindergarten. A new Hillary for America video today highlights Clinton’s lifelong record of fighting for children and families by emphasizing her involvement in bringing HIPPY to Arkansas. HIPPY now operates in 22 states, including Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

A transcript of Clinton’s introductory remarks in Loudoun County are below:

“Well, thank you all for coming and having this conversation with me. It’s clear that there are so many challenges facing young families today that we have to come to grips with. And we have to work together to try to find the best menu of options. Because there is just no ‘one-size-fits-all’. People have different needs – childcare needs, sometimes even more, as Shanda and I were just talking about, even more challenging with special needs kids and how we start early and provide that sort of support.

“For some it’s family leave and particularly the absence of paid family leave because that makes it more difficult to deal with everything from newborns to aging relatives. Others, it’s just a continuing stress of a workplace that doesn’t provide enough compensation with rising incomes. There still is a challenge with equal pay for women, which is real – it’s not made up.

“There are lots of concerns in the workplace that I’m hearing about increasingly – about the work day never ends, the schedules are often unpredictable. And even when you think you’re gaining some control over that work day it’s subject to so many variables that are out of your control and often end up throwing big monkey wrenches into what should be your family time and your efforts to try and organize and stick with that.

“So I hear about this all over the country, and I really want to talk about it and hear from you more than me talking. Because there are some obvious, maybe even typical, responses, but I’m trying to get a much broader view about what will work. These are issues that I’ve worked on for a really long time going back to my own life as a mother, a daughter, and some of the challenges there, but also in the work that I’ve done for the Children’s Defense Fund and other ways of trying to figure out how we have a more cohesive and frankly welcoming set of expectations and supports for families in today’s world. 


“Because, it’s just harder I think. It’s just my take. I think costs are greater. Everything from commuting time to feeling like if you take that vacation day, you’re going to be viewed as slacking off. I mean they are just–they are cultural as well as economic and structural challenges, so I’m just very interested in hearing what all of you might have to say.”

###

DSCN5724 DSCN5727 DSCN5731 DSCN5732 DSCN5734 DSCN5735 DSCN5739 DSCN5740 DSCN572305-09-16-Z-01 05-09-16-Z-02 05-09-16-Z-08 05-09-16-Z-09 05-09-16-Z-10 05-09-16-Z-12 05-09-16-Z-13 05-09-16-Z-14 05-09-16-Z-25

donate

VOLUNTEER

phone calls

Read Full Post »

On Saturday, before leaving southern California for a Mother’s Day celebration at home, Hillary wrapped up her Golden State tour by meeting up with Clinton 42 (maybe we should start getting used to referring to them that way) for a family event.  WJC delivered the commencement address at Loyola Marymount where his nephew, Tyler, was among the class of 2016, and HRC was in the audience to cheer them both on!

 Former President Bill Clinton delivers commencement address at Loyola Marymount

Times staff and wire reports

Former President Bill Clinton delivered the commencement address Saturday morning at Loyola Marymount University, urging students to “set the world on fire” with their dreams and passions.

Clinton spoke at the ceremony attended by hundreds of undergraduates. His nephew Tyler Clinton was among them.

He told the Class of 2016 that they were “graduating in the most interdependent age in human history.”

“Whether we like it or not, for the rest of your lives, what happens to you will in some measure be determined by what happens to other people, by how you react to it, how they treat you, how you treat them and what larger forces are at work in the world.”

Read more >>>>

05-07-16-G-001

Former President Bill Clinton gives the thumbs-up as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton smiles during the Loyola Marymount 2016 Commencement on the campus of Loyola Marymount University on Saturday, May 7, 2016 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Libby Cline)

Former President Bill Clinton gives the thumbs-up as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton smiles during the Loyola Marymount 2016 Commencement on the campus of Loyola Marymount University on Saturday, May 7, 2016 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Libby Cline)

05-07-16-G-02

05-07-16-G-03

05-07-16-G-04

Big congrats to Tyler and all the 2016 grads!  A vote for Tyler’s aunt is a vote for a better deal on your student loan and better job prospects in your future!  Don’t listen to empty promises.  Read the plans for a real deal!  Go for it!

donate

VOLUNTEER

phone calls

Read Full Post »

Many thanks to Olivia Morris Fuchs for this!

“On Tuesday, May 10, Hillary Clinton will campaign in Kentucky ahead of the May 17 Democratic presidential primary. At an organizing event in Louisville, Clinton will discuss why she is the best candidate to raise incomes for families and break down the barriers that hold too many Kentucky families back.

This event is free and open to the public. Members of the public interested in attending this event should RSVP here: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/events/view/2698960.”

—  UPDATED INFO:

Hillary will be at a Rally in Louisville at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday–one week before our primary in Kentucky on 5/17/16. PLEASE COME OUT TO JOIN US & SPREAD THE WORD

Louisville Organizing Event with Hillary Clinton
When: 6:15 PM EDT, Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Doors open at 4:15 PM EDT.

Where: Louisville Slugger Field – Hall of Fame Pavilion, 401 E Main St., Louisville, KY 40202

We truly want you to join us.  C’mon!

05-06-16-Z-24

donate

VOLUNTEER

phone calls

Read Full Post »

I am sure, if you were among those who signed Hillary’s Mother’s Day card, that you have already received your personal thank you note from her. It is so sweet. I cannot resist sharing it.

I just got the Mother’s Day card that thousands of people signed, including you! I really loved it, and I appreciated that so many of you took time to send me good wishes.

Today, I’m thinking a lot about my mom, Dorothy. She had a tough childhood, sent away by her parents and working to support herself as a housemaid by the time she was 14. Despite not always having the support she needed, she found a way to become an amazing, supportive mother to my brothers and me. I remember one summer, my brother wanted to dig a hole to China, and he worked at it every day — every so often, my mother would hide a chopstick or fortune cookie in the hole to make him think he was getting there.

Some of you shared stories about your mothers this week, and many of them struck a chord: Juanita from Florida talked about working alongside her mom, who was a farmworker, and listening to her talk about the importance of a good education. Today, Juanita has a PhD.

Sylvia from Texas told me that her mother started working as a nanny when she was just 12, much like my mom. Now, with her mother’s support, Sylvia is getting ready to go to college.

It’s been almost five years since we lost my mother, and I’m grateful every day for how she shaped my life, and how much she taught me about how to be a good mom to Chelsea. I hope she’d be proud of this campaign, of our work to break down the barriers that hold Americans back, and of our focus on building a world filled with love and kindness.

I’m looking forward to spending time today with my wonderful daughter and granddaughter — I hope you get to see some people you love, too. At its core, that’s what this campaign is about: making life better for the people we love. I’m so grateful you’re a part of this. I know we’re going to do great things together.

Thank you again,

Hillary

Just my opinion, Hillary, but I am certain that your mom is watching your campaign with love and enormous appreciation for your tremendous, selfless effort in this campaign to break down barriers and make love and kindness the core of policies going forward.  Have a wonderful day with your lovely family!

hillary-clinton-and-dorothy-rodhamAP_dorothy_rodham_hillary_clinton_jef_150611_16x9_992

Read Full Post »

Hillary sat down with John Dickerson on Friday for a segment that aired on Face the Nation this morning.

ICYMI:  The video is here >>>>

DSCN5705

Dickerson asked about her designation of Donald Trump as a “loose cannon,”  Hillary offered as examples his suggestions to: allow other nations to acquire nuclear weapons and  pull out of NATO. Some statements like going back to using torture, going after families of terrorists concern her.

She pointed to Republicans raising questions about their presumptive nominee.  She very carefully differentiated “their nominee” from “Donald Trump.” She said she doesn’t think it is personal but rooted in respect for the office.

DSCN5707

Dickerson asked Hillary what hard questions she would ask Trump. Her general response was to point to a basic vacuum for what he says,

Americans don’t need a raise – based on what? Evidence indicates that he does not understand what is happening in the economy to ordinary people.  She pointed out that Trump does not have a plan,  He has a slogan.

Climate change a Chinese hoax -based on what?  Once again it is a slogan.

Punishing women who have abortions, rounding up immigrants for deportation – what do these statements mean and how would we go about that? She said maybe he doesn’t understand that running the gov not the same as making real estate deals.  Putting the credit of the U.S. at risk would have a horrible outcome.

DSCN5709

Hillary’s website explains all of her plans and how they are paid for so clearly there is a constituency for a candidate who puts specific plans out there, was  She has confidence in common sense of American voter

Hillary is not going to run an ugly race. She is going to run a race based on issues.  She doesn’t feel she is running against Donald Trump. She is running for the vision she has for America and to knock down the barriers that prevent Americans from getting ahead. She is going to stay focused on that,

DSCN5710

Hillary will run an outreach campaign to voters across the political spectrum who want a candidate is running based on issues, has put out plans and will explain them, who has a track record.  Hillary believes people who take their votes seriously will agree with her.

DSCN5711

Was she trying to lead Bernie Sanders to the exit?  She said her 2008 experience is a good reminder of how close she and Obama were then. She and Sanders have a lot of same goals. Will work together toward them and to make sure Donald Trump does not become president.  They shares many goals and she hopes they can work together.

DSCN5712

The emails came up again.  She is looking forward to having that wrapped up. So far no one has reached out to her.  She said it is a security inquiry, she has always taken security very seriously.

DSCN5713

Is there a broader lesson?  Hillary said if you don’t keep learning you will stagnate. Anyone who is running for POTUS should answer the same questions.  Hillary,  “I have 33 years of tax returns in the public domain.” and Donald Trump has none.  “What’s there?”

DSCN5715

She pointed to her record as secretary of state. Has a serous and focused approach to taking care of the nation’s business.

DSCN5716

 

Hillary said she will stand for American values, interests, and security and that Trump has no coherent foreign policy and makes statements that are of concern.  Why after 70 years trying to prevent proliferation would Trump be so cavalier in wanting other countries to get them?

DSCN5720

The interview ended a bit abruptly on that last note.  To Dickerson’s credit: some of the questions were refreshing and new, and some of the older issues were approached from a fresh perspective.  He did not ask her any wasteful questions that would be better answered by the party or parties who lodge those questions which she always has to answer with “Well I think you would have to ask him/her/them….”  It was one of the better recent interviews in that sense. Very efficient.

donate

VOLUNTEER

phone calls

Read Full Post »

To Hillary, Chelsea, all the moms here, all the single dads who sometimes double as moms, all the pet moms, all the surrogate moms, including Girl Scout leaders, doctors, teachers, nurses, lawyers, nuns, hairdressers, caregivers, food servers, cooks, room service personnel, and everybody else I left out without intending to – Happy Mother’s Day!

. on how exciting it is to watch raise daughter Charlotte

people-mothers-day

And for the White Chrysanthemum Club. We remember.  Love never dies.

dorothy-howell-rodham-at-the-time-of-her-1942-marriage Hillary+Clinton+Dorothy+Rodham+Mother+Hillary+9Ivb_JJa-n_l

U.S. presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) (L) speaks on stage with her mother Dorothy Rodham during a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, in this December 7, 2007 file photo. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's mother, Dorothy Howell Rodham, died on November 1, 2011 at the age of 92, the Clinton family said in a statement. REUTERS/Jason Reed/Files (UNITED STATES)

U.S. presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) (L) speaks on stage with her mother Dorothy Rodham during a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, in this December 7, 2007 file photo. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s mother, Dorothy Howell Rodham, died on November 1, 2011 at the age of 92, the Clinton family said in a statement. REUTERS/Jason Reed/Files (UNITED STATES)

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) looks back at her mother Dorothy Rodham (C) and daughter Chelsea as she speaks after being ceremonially sworn in at the State Department in Washington on February 2, 2009. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) looks back at her mother Dorothy Rodham (C) and daughter Chelsea as she speaks after being ceremonially sworn in at the State Department in Washington on February 2, 2009. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

donate

VOLUNTEER

phone calls

Read Full Post »

There are two impressive scenes in the movie “How to Make an American Quilt.” In one of these scenes, Winona Ryder first sets her eyes upon the wedding quilt her grandmother, grand-aunt, and their quilting circle have made for her, and it is a sight to behold.

The women have been meeting for weeks bringing scraps of fabric significant to them for various reasons and painstakingly repurposing the remnants into squares of individual significance to each member.

While the quilters have been industriously crafting this lovely product, Ryder’s character, who does not know the quilt is for her, has been writing her master’s thesis. She does this, inexplicably, on a typewriter (the movie is not a period piece), on single sheets of paper without benefit of carbon paper (google it if that compound noun is alien  to you), and without making a daily run to the local Office Max or wherever to make copies. One day, a strong gust of wind picks up the loose papers and blows them all over town. That is the second impressive scene. Months of toil gone with the wind. One character wonders aloud how anyone would be so stupid as not to have made copies.

Throughout the film, Ryder’s character, Finn, pounds away at her thesis while treating the quilting bee group to recordings of tribal music all in a very single-minded, self-centered fashion while the bee ladies sit in their circle  and share their stories both past and current.  These reminiscences are as rich as the quilt they ultimately complete. We never know how rich Finn’s thesis might have been. Minus binding or tacking, the winds have dispersed it.

In the wake of the head-spinning week we have experienced, I find a metaphor here for what is happening politically in this country.

The campaign Hillary Clinton has been running is the quilting bee.  She hears from Americans, sees the problems set before her, and devises practical solutions to put forth.  Her plans and issues overlap and intersect like patches on a quilt.  There is an artfulness to it. There is tacking holding the pieces together.  What is  good for workers, farmers, families, women, students, and children – those things are good for America.  That is Hillary’s thread – what is good for America.

The Sanders campaign consists of single sheets of typed script with no cohesion within the text. No tacking. Each issue is addressed in isolation.  We do not know that Finn’s thesis is incohesive, probably not, but once the papers fly the semblance fits.

Donald Trump’s campaign  – well you could argue that it is represented by the random scraps of fabric, but it is more like Finn’s research on 3×5 index cards (for those of you who remember putting your research on those) or better yet, a thesis written on post-its.

No campaign this cycle has the cohesion that Hillary’s has. You may remember the Quilters for Hillary.

qulters-cover-photo.original

Hillary has been making an American quilt all along. Every part is tacked down, all the pieces fit together.

Two articles on Medium struck me hard today. I agree with both of them.

Read Full Post »

Happy Mother's Day!
Make sure to sign the card.

Read Full Post »

Woman power was at the fore as Senator Boxer introduced Hillary Clinton at an Oakland rally today.

05-06-16-Z-1205-06-16-Z-11

05-06-16-Z-08 05-06-16-Z-09 05-06-16-Z-10 05-06-16-Z-13 05-06-16-Z-14 05-06-16-Z-15 05-06-16-Z-16 05-06-16-Z-17 05-06-16-Z-18 05-06-16-Z-19 05-06-16-Z-20 05-06-16-Z-21 05-06-16-Z-23 05-06-16-Z-24 05-06-16-Z-25 05-06-16-Z-2605-06-16-Z-22

donate

VOLUNTEER

phone calls

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »

%d bloggers like this: