Hillary Clinton in Charlotte

Hillary and the Mothers of the Movement ended their busy day of campaigning in North Carolina at Belk Plaza, UNC Charlotte.

  

Hillary Clinton at Sunday Services in Charlotte, N.C.

Hillary visited the Little Rock AME Zion Church in Charlotte today for Sunday services. 

In Charlotte, Clinton Discusses Urgent Need To Advance Social and Economic Justice in African American Communities

In remarks at Little Rock A.M.E. Church in Charlotte, Hillary Clinton discusses the fact that too many African American men like Keith Lamont Scott have died in police incidents every year, and while we don’t yet know all the facts of Lamont’s case, we must commit to fundamentally reforming our criminal justice system and ensuring opportunity in every community. Reflecting on the challenges that disproportionately affect African Americans, Clinton said, “I worry about the safety and security of my grandchildren, but my worries are not the same as black grandmothers. They have different, and deeper fears about the world that their grandchildren face.”
Clinton also laid out her plans to ensure African Americans can share in America’s prosperity. She vowed to promote policies that would help African Americans get ahead and stay ahead by creating good jobs and quality affordable housing in every zip code. Clinton said, “We are called to care for and cherish each other. It’s not easy, it is not. But that is our mission and that is what we are called to do, not only as Christians but as Americans, as human beings to understand and respect each other. To fight for each other’s children, each other’s dignity, each other’s opportunity as if they were our own.”
Clinton’s remarks, as transcribed, are below:
“This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
I am so […] and so honored to be here. Thank you so much Reverend Dr. Walker. Thanks to the members of the Little Rock A.M.E. Zion. I have to confess – we were putting together the […] Rev. Walker was […]
But he told me his church […] 134 years ago was founded in a house on a rock and that rock has been sturdy and steady […]
I am so delighted to be here with your Congresswoman, Congresswoman Adams, who has a […] path in the Congress, such a […] of conviction. And my thanks also to Donna […] for her leadership for that stirring description […] Thank you so much.
This church for all those years has been a source of strength and solace, for generations of congregants and […] It has helped people get […]. It has helped people deal with the sorrows that come […] and it has […] the world outside challenged the faith that comes from belief. In here, in this magnificent house of worship, we pray for peace when there is too much violence outside of these walls. In here, we are called to confront injustice, even when the world out there fails to see it. In here, we see the world as it is, but we pray for the strength and wisdom to build the world as it should be.
It has been 12 days since Mr. Scott was shot and killed. Twelve days since his wife Rakeiya Scott watched her husband die, and seven children lost their father. Now we don’t yet know all the details about the shooting, but we do know this family and this community is in pain. And therefore we pray for them and we pray for all families who have suffered similar losses. But we do more than pray. As Ms. Bradford said, ‘We do what each of us can do.’ Not everyone can march, but everyone can talk, and everyone can reach out and everyone can vote.
Too many African American families have been in the same tragic situation that the Scott family has found themselves. In fact, the day before Mr. Scott died, another father, Terence Crutcher, was killed in a police encounter in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And there have been many others. So many fathers and sons and even mothers and daughters who have died either after encounters with the police or at the hands of civilians with guns while they were doing things that were ordinary, everyday activities. Walking home from the store with iced tea and Skittles, listening to music in their car with friends.
And we also know – and we must not forget – that violence has touched the families of police officers. Men and women who put on the uniform and put their lives on the line to protect others. From Dallas to Baton Rouge to Philadelphia, the families of fallen officers have also been dealt a great blow and they deserve our prayers as well.
It’s been a hard year, hasn’t it? Think about how many times President Obama has had to console our nation about another senseless tragedy, another shattered family, another distressed community. And our children are watching, and they feel it too. You’ve seen that right here in Charlotte. Last Monday at the city council meeting, 10-year-old Taje Gaddy said, ‘I wake up every morning scared that I won’t get to grow up because I am black.’
A nine-year-old, Zianna Oliphant, who’s here with us today, along with her brother Marquis and her family, also spoke at that city council meeting, with tears pouring down her face. And when I read what she had said, I had tears in my eyes too. She said, ‘We are black people and we shouldn’t have to feel like this. It’s a shame that our fathers and mothers are killed, and we can’t even see them anymore. It’s a shame that we have to go to their graveyard and bury them. We need our fathers and mothers to be by our side.’ What courage and clarity that young lady showed to the world.
But can you imagine, nine years old. She should be thinking about happy adventures, dreaming about all the wonderful things her future holds for her. Instead she’s talking about graveyards. Our entire country should take a moment to really look at what’s going on here, and across America, to imagine what we see on the news, and what we hear about, imagine through our children’s eyes.
I’m a grandmother, and like every grandmother I worry about the safety and security of my grandchildren, but my worries are not the same as black grandmothers. They have different, and deeper fears about the world that their grandchildren face. It makes my heart ache, when kids like Zianna, are going through this and trying to make sense of the absolutely senseless. I know how I would feel. I wouldn’t be able to stand it if my grandchildren had to be scared and worried the way too many children across our country feel right now. But because my grandchildren are white, because they are the grandchildren of a former president and secretary of state, let’s be honest here – they won’t face the kind of fear that we heard from the young children testifying before the city council.
You know, every child deserves the same sense of security, every child deserves the same hope. They should not be facing fear, they should be learning and growing, imagining who they can be, and what their contributions to our country could be as well. We’ve got to take action, we’ve got to start now, not tomorrow, not next year, now. We know we can’t solve all these problems over night, which means we don’t have a moment to lose.
Proverbs tells us, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish.’ So let’s hold on to a common vision. Let’s come together to make America a place where every child, no matter who they are, where they’re born or what they look like, has the chance to live up to their God-given potential.
Being stronger together with this common vision means rejecting those forces that try to pit us against each other. We can acknowledge that implicit bias still exists, not just in police departments but throughout our country, without vilifying police officers. We can call for reforms to policing, while still appreciating the many courageous and admirable officers out there who are doing their jobs with honor and integrity.
I think about an officer named Montrell Jackson. You might not have heard of him, but I want you to. He was one of the officers murdered in Baton Rouge. A few days before he died, he wrote on Facebook, he was black but he wore blue. ‘In uniform,’ he wrote, ‘I get nasty, hateful looks. Out of uniform, some consider me a threat. These are trying times. Please don’t let hate infect your heart.’ And then he closed by saying that if anyone saw him on patrol and wanted a hug, ‘I got you.’
Montrell Jackson knew that making our communities safer and juster are not conflicting ideas. And most officers will tell you they can’t do one without the other. I believe we need end-to-end reform in our criminal justice system, not half measures but full measures, with real follow-through. In America everyone should be respected by the law and have respect for the law.
That starts with being honest. Being unafraid to face the facts. Face the fact that black men are far more likely to be stopped, searched by police, charged with crimes and sentenced to longer prison terms than white men for doing the same thing. We need to fix a system where too many black parents are taken from their kids and imprisoned for minor offenses. We need to make sure our police officers are trained in de-escalating tense situations. We need to dismantle the so-called school-to-prison pipeline, and instead invest in education from early childhood through high school into higher education. And yes we have got to fight for common sense reforms to stop the epidemic of gun violence in our communities.
Gun violence is by far the leading cause of death for young black men, more than the next nine causes combined. We’ve got to make sure there are good jobs, equality affordable housing in every zip code in America. We need to make investments in communities that have been left out and left behind. I am a strong supporter of Congressman Jim Clyburn’s plan to put 10 percent of our federal funds into 20 percent of the communities that have generational poverty for 30 years or more.
Now, there are some out there who see this as a moment to command the flames of resentment and division. Who want to exploit people’s fears, even though it means tearing our nation even further apart. They say that all of our problems will be solved simply by more ‘law and order.’ As if the systemic racism plaguing our country doesn’t exist. Now, of course we need safe neighborhoods, no one is against that. Of course, we need communities that are free from the epidemic of gun violence, of course we need that. But we also need justice and dignity and equality, and we can have both. This is not an either-or question for America.
I want us to commit ourselves to this common vision. That is where I will build on the work that President Obama has done. And I will be sure that this is not just about a campaign or an election. This is much bigger than an election. These are issues I’ve been fighting for since I was a young lawyer working for the Children’s Defense Fund. Going to South Carolina to try to get young teenagers, 13, 14-year-olds out of jails with adult offenders. I care deeply about this because it’s not just personal to so many of us, it’s about the kind of country you want to be and the future we want for all of our children and grandchildren. I think about that every time I see my grandchildren or every time I see a bright, energetic, impressive young woman like Zianna. Come up here a minute, would you?
I love your dress.
You know, God loves us all, right? We are called to care for and cherish each other. It’s not easy, it is not. But that is our mission and that is what we are called to do, not only as Christians but as Americans, as human beings to understand and respect each other. To fight for each other’s children, each other’s dignity, each other’s opportunity as if they were our own. Now, make no mistake, this is not easy work. You’ve been doing this since Adam and Eve came here. But it is righteous work. Protecting all of God’s children is America’s calling. Remember what scripture also tells us: ‘Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.’ We will not grow weary and we will not lose heart. We will get up every single day have faith in one another and in our future and work for that better day for all of God’s people. Thank you.”

Hillary Clinton in Charlotte, NC

Hillary held a press conference on the tarmac at Westchester Airport this morning before flying to Charlotte for a campaign event at Johnson C. Smith University. Look for Hillary at the 42 minute mark.




A question at the press conference had to do with Hillary's serious facial expression at last night's MSNBC forum and whether she felt she was being held to a different standard.  Talk about begging the question!  This is what that expression actually means!

In Charlotte, Clinton Vows to Fight Trump’s Dangerous Policies and Bolster Voting Rights

At a voter registration rally in Charlotte on Thursday, Hillary Clinton made the case that Donald Trump is unfit to be president and Commander in Chief. Clinton pointed out the range of Trump’s unacceptable policies, from opposing a federal minimum wage to proposing cutting the estate tax, which would do nothing for working families, but could save his own family $4 billion. Clinton also highlighted Trump’s pitiful performance at the Commander-in-Chief Forum, during which he unpatriotically lavished praise on Vladimir Putin while disparaging our military and attacking President Obama. Clinton added, “We have never been threatened as much by a single candidate running for president as we have been in this election. As your commander-in-chief, I will not trash our country’s most cherished values, I will defend them. And that is especially on my mind because this weekend is the 15th anniversary of 9/11. I was a senator serving, and I will never forget the horror of that day or the bravery of our first responders, the victims, the survivors, people I had the honor to work with and represent.”
Clinton also vowed to support HCBUs as president and make it easier to vote, in light of targeted attempts in North Carolina and across the nation to suppress minority turnout.
Clinton’s remarks, as transcribed, are below:
“Hello! Whoa, it is so great to be here. Thank you all so much. And I was backstage listening to Jordan Polk’s story, and it was just so powerful and moving, and her ability to stand up here, talk about her personal family experience, coming out of Katrina, staying strong, moving forward, being a student here at Johnson C. Smith University. I am so excited.
I want to thank her and I want to thank Dr. Carter. Thank you for welcoming us here. You have welcomed two Clintons in the last year. There’s something about this place that has attracted both my husband and myself. I apologize for being late. We had a disabled airplane on the runway that had to get moved. It took a lot longer than expected. But I’ve been looking forward to joining all of you here in Charlotte.
I want to recognize and thank your mayor, Mayor Jennifer Roberts. There you are. Thank you, Mayor Roberts. I want to thank Trevor Fuller, chair of the Mecklenburg County Commission. I want to acknowledge Josh Stein, candidate for attorney general. And to all of you gathered here today.
It is 61 days until the election. And I think it’s so appropriate to be here in the great state of North Carolina – at a really well-renowned H – you know what I’m saying? – HBCU, historically black college and university.That, like so many others, has played such an important role in our country’s history, producing some of America’s finest leaders. And I am very proud. I was just doing a phone call on the way here with a lot of my young organizers on college campuses across our country, and I got a question from a young woman at another historical black college and university – Fayetteville. And I told her that I have a plan to help all of you afford to go to college. I have a plan to help all of you with student debt to pay it down and pay it off. And I have a special plan of a $25 billion fund specifically aimed at supporting HBCUs. Because we need a lot of opportunities for young people from everywhere. It shouldn’t matter what you look like, where you’re from, or who you love. You deserve to be in college if that is your choice.
So right now we’re up and running, we’re organizing across America, and as Jordan said, this election has such high stakes, but the highest stakes are for young people. Young people across America. This election is going to determine in so many ways what kind of futures you will have. I don’t say that lightly. Everybody always says every election is important, and I happen to believe that. I think it’s one of the great gifts of our democracy that we have the opportunity to choose our leaders. And people – brave people – going back for so many years have fought to preserve that right. And that right is under attack right now, and it is under attack in North Carolina, of all places, a state that often set the standard for moving everybody into the future, and I admired that so much – emphasis on education from literally preschool through college; emphasis on research; emphasis on job creation and innovation. And now North Carolina, under the current governor and legislature, has been trying to restrict people’s right to vote. Well, you know it. North Carolina voters, though, won an important victory when a federal court just struck down this state’s voter ID law. And the federal court brought back more days of what’s called one-stop early voting. And here’s what the court said – this is not me talking. This is what the federal court said. The court said the North Carolina law was designed to target African American ‘with almost surgical precision.’
Now, that’s not just happening in North Carolina, unfortunately. It’s happening across America. And courts have been overturning restrictions that make it harder not just for African Americans but low-income people, Latinos, young people. One of the provisions in the North Carolina law was to make it really hard to vote where you go to school. So this has been a concerted effort to undermine the right to vote, even to make it hard for people with disabilities to cast ballots. Well, what’s the best way to repudiate that kind of underhanded, mean-spirited effort to deprive people of their votes? Get out and vote and make it clear we’re not putting up with that.
These laws are a blast from the Jim Crow past, and they have no place in 21st century America. We should be doing everything we can to make it easier to vote, not harder. That’s why if I’m elected president, I will work to expand early voting. We will enact universal voter registration so every young person in every state is automatically registered to vote when you turn 18. And we will repair the damage done to the Voting Rights Act and take on discrimination in all forms.
Now, HB2 is another example of trying discriminate against people that doesn’t have any place in our modern society. You’ve seen this firsthand in North Carolina. Discrimination is not only wrong, it’s bad for business. The NBA, you know, cancelled the game. PayPal cancelled bringing, I think, 400 jobs. Others are not coming to this beautiful state because they don’t want to be associated with the discriminatory, bigoted policies of your governor and legislature. Now, one thing you can do about that is change your governor in November. And while you’re at it, change one of your Senators. We’re going to need reinforcements up in Washington. We got a big agenda.
And people say to me, well, what is it you’re going to try to get done? Well, I’ll show you real easy. We just published a book. Right? Tim Kaine and I put this book out. It’s called ‘Stronger Together.’ It’s not very long. Not a hard read. But we have this old-fashioned idea that if we’re asking you to support us for president, we ought to tell you what we’re going to do. Not just bluster. Not just empty words. Not just demagogic rhetoric. Real plans that will improve your lives, make our country safer and better. So you could pick this up.
We’re going to build an economy that works for everybody, not just those at the top. Sounds like a good idea. We’re going to make the biggest investment in good-paying jobs since World War II – infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, clean energy jobs. We’re going to make the economy fairer, raise the national minimum wage, get people who work full-time out of poverty. And we are finally going to guarantee equal pay for women’s work. It is long overdue.
Did any of you see any of the Democratic convention? Well, I don’t know. You might have missed one of my favorite sets of speakers. We had these two young people from Kansas, 17 years old, young man, young woman. I’d read this, and I said, let’s contact these young people and find out their story. Here’s their story. Seventeen. Had the same summer job. Knew each other, working in a pizza restaurant. And they were pretty excited. I remember when I got my first real job, not babysitting but actually showing up at a job and having to do it.
And so one day, after they finished work, they were talking, and the young woman said, ‘I think, making $8 an hour, I should be able to at least save something for college.’ And the young man, a friend of hers, said, ‘Well, I’m making $8.15 an hour.’ And she said, ‘Well, why are you making 15 cents more an hour than I am? Neither of us had any experience to do this job. We’re the same age.’ He said, ‘Well, I don’t know. That doesn’t sound right. Maybe there was a mistake.’ So they go to the manager. They tell the manager. And the manager fired them both. And you know what? That’s legal. If you find out you’re not being paid the same for doing the same job, you can be fired. So this is not some made-up problem. And this would raise family incomes. And if you have a mother, a wife, a daughter, or a sister who’s working, it’s your issue. So we’re going to get that done as well.
And like I said, we’re going to make college affordable for everybody, pay down debt. But we’re going to do something else. I think it was a mistake when we got rid of all vocational education in high school. It needed to be improved, don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t training people for the jobs that were out in the marketplace any more. But we got rid of all of it. We need technical education in high school. We need more apprenticeship programs where young people can learn and earn at the same time. And we’re going to go back to emphasizing that in high school, community colleges, apprenticeship programs, creative ideas like coding camps. We’re going to have 1.4 million jobs in 2020 for people who have computer science skills, and we’re going to only, if we continue on our present path, only have 400,000 Americans prepared to do those jobs. I want those jobs to be American jobs. So we’re going to help train people of all ages to be able to do those jobs.
We are also going to defend quality affordable health care for everybody, but we’re going to get the costs down. We’re going to get the costs of prescription drugs down for sure. And we’re going to emphasize two things that we have fallen short on, mental health and addiction services. People I’ve met here in North Carolina and across America talk to me about that all the time. So again, we’ve got our ideas in here. We want you to engage with us, give us your ideas. This needs to be an ongoing conversation. We want you to hold us accountable when we’re in that White House trying to do all of this.
But we also have to keep America safe. And we have to lead the world with steadiness and strength. One of the biggest differences in this campaign is Donald Trump basically says, ‘I alone can fix it,’ we have it is. Think of who that leaves out. That leaves out our troops on the front line. It leaves out our police and fire responders to emergencies. It leaves out our teachers, our educators who are working to help young people. It leaves out everybody. ‘I alone can fix it?’ I was raised to believe that we’re in this together, and together we can fix it. And that is exactly what we’re going to do.
That’s why Tim Kaine and I are running a campaign of issues, not insults. Donald Trump has a different approach. He wants to build an economy that works even better for himself, starting with a $4 billion tax cut for his own family. He’s built a career on stiffing workers, mom and pop contractors, small businesses that did jobs for him and the he refused to pay them. I take this very personally. My father was a small businessman. That’s how he provided a good middle class living for us.
He printed drapery fabrics. He would get the fabric and roll it out on these big long tables, and you’d take a silkscreen and you’d put it down. You’d dump the paint in. You’d take the squeegee. You’d go across. You’d lift it up. You’d go down to the end of one table, start on the other end of the other table. And you’d do it until the job was done. Sometimes I was there helping him. And then he would load the fabric into his car and he would deliver it. I tell you what, I am so grateful he never had a contract with Donald Trump’s businesses.
In fact, I just ran across a story in Las Vegas when I was there a few weeks ago of a small drapery business who got what they thought was the greatest contract ever for Trump’s new hotel in Las Vegas. They delivered the goods, and they were refused payment, for no reason other than it’s a game to him. Everything is a game. It’s like he’s living in his own celebrity reality TV program. You know what, Donald? This is real reality. This is real people. This is real decisions that have to be made for our country.
He actually stood on a debate stage and said wages are too high in America. Now, he’s got some new advisors. He’s had a bunch of advisors. He’s got some new advisors. And they’re all trying to make him look more presidential. Sound more serious. It’s not working too well. But remember what Maya Angelou, who spent the last years of her life right here in this state at Wake Forest, reminded all of us. I think about it often. I was so privileged to know her. When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
You know, stronger together also means working with our true allies and partners around the world, and last night I offered some thought about ISIS, Iran, how we’re going to reform the VA system to take better care of our vets. And just since last night, when I appeared on that program back-to-back with Trump, just in the last 24 hours, more retired generals and admirals have signed up to support my campaign.
People who have sacrificed and spent their lives protecting our country, valuing what makes us exceptional and already great, see Donald Trump and know he should not be anywhere near the White House. He is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander-in-chief.
Now, tomorrow I will hold a meeting of bipartisan, bipartisan which is what I want to get us back to where Republicans and Democrats work together to make the changes to protect our country. I’m going to be meeting with a bipartisan group of leaders and experts to focus more on these crucial challenges, but it’s hard to forget what Trump did last night. It was a test and he failed it. He trash-talked about America’s generals saying that they’ve been quote ‘reduced to rubble.’ He suggested he would fire them all and hand-pick his own generals since he knows so much about what it takes to be a general.
He attacked dozens of former flag officers. At the same time, and here’s what I want you to really hear, because even I was shocked by this and I didn’t know much could shock me coming out of his mouth anymore, he praised Russia’s strongman Vladimir Putin, even taking the astonishing step of suggesting he prefers the Russian president to our American president. That is not just unpatriotic, it’s not just insulting to the office and the man who holds the office, it is scary; it is dangerous. It actually suggests he will let Putin do what Putin wants and even make excuses for him.
I said this morning – I was trying to think about what other presidents would be imagining hearing that coming out of the nominee for the Republican Party. What would Ronald Reagan say about a Republican nominee who attacks America’s generals and heaps praise on Russia’s president?
We’ve never seen anything like this. And one thing you didn’t hear from him was any plan to take on ISIS, one of the biggest threats facing our country. He says his plan is still a secret. Well, the truth is he doesn’t have a plan. I served on the Senate Armed Services Committee. I served as Secretary of State as you know. I respect the men and women who put their lives on the line for the country that I love and that I believe in.
So whether you’re passionate about more good jobs, better education, healthcare, whether you’re passionate about protecting our country and the brave men and women who serve us, you have to realize, as so many Republicans are, that this is a time to put country over party. I would be saying that even if I were not running against him. We have never been threatened as much by a single candidate running for president as we have been in this election.
As your commander-in-chief, I will not trash our country’s most cherished values, I will defend them. And that is especially on my mind because this weekend is the 15th anniversary of 9/11. I was a senator serving, and I will never forget the horror of that day or the bravery of our first responders, the victims, the survivors, people I had the honor to work with and represent. It’s what kept me really so passionately involved on behalf of the people that I served all during those years.
And that is what I was thinking of 10 years later in the White House Situation Room. I was part of the small group advising President Obama whether or not the intelligence we had was good enough to take a chance to go deep into Pakistan to try to finally bring Osama bin Laden to justice. It was not an easy choice by any means. These never are. That’s why who sits at the head of that table in the Situation Room has to be able to sort out fact from opinion, has to be able to ask the hard questions, pursue even the most difficult leads. We went through that hour after hour after hour. And then the President went around the table asking each of us what we advised, and we were split because it was not some kind of easy layup. I believed it was strong enough that we needed to take action, and I supported taking action that would determine whether or not we were successful. That meant sending in Special Forces.
Now, you know what happened. I was in that Situation Room watching that day – the most stressful 30 minutes of my life probably because you remember one of the helicopters hit its tail on the wall going into the courtyard and became disabled. That meant – thank goodness there were good contingency plans, but you had to get another helicopter in to take out the SEALs who would no longer be able to fly out on that one. But here’s what I want to tell you because it is a story that to me illustrates our values in such a clear, unambiguous way. You’ve heard Donald Trump say he would order our troops to torture. You’ve heard him say he would order our troops to kill family members of terrorists. You would know that he was advocating illegal actions against our own laws as well as the laws of war. Thank goodness there’s a code of honor in our military stronger than the bluster and the bullying of Donald Trump because here is what happened on that night.
Every single second counted. That helicopter had to be blown up, but before it was – and remember the SEALs had gone in, they had taken out the two Kuwaitis, the bodyguards, they’d taken out bin Laden’s son who was there, and they took out bin Laden. They had to get his body out. They had to get themselves out, but here’s what they did first. They rounded up all the women and children, members of terrorist families, they took them outside as far from the helicopter as they could get them in order that they would not be hurt. That, Donald Trump, is what American honor looks like, and that is what we’re going to stand up and defend in the face of your outrageous, disgraceful attacks on the men and women of our armed forces.
We’re going to unify this country, my friends. We are going to bring us back together. We are going to get things done, big things. That’s who we are as Americans. I can’t do any of this unless you join me in this campaign. You can start by going to HillaryClinton.com or texting ‘join,’ j-o-i-n, to 47246. You can knock on doors. You can make phone calls. Register your friends to vote. Attend a house party in your neighborhood. We’re going to keep asking for your help over these next two months. There is so much at stake in North Carolina and in America. No one can sit on the sidelines. The stakes are high for everyone. Join the campaign. Let’s build a future where we’re stronger together. Thank you.”

In other news, ICYMI, Matt Lauer was taken to task by Twitterstorm today for his sorry performance as  moderator at last night's Commander-in-Chief Forum.  The hashtag is #LaueringTheBar.  If you also notice #Aleppo trending, that would be because on Morning Joe today, Gary Johnson asked "What is Aleppo?"  So that happened. Now more than ever, it is crucial that we stand with Hillary!

From the campaign.
This is a longer email than I usually send, but I wanted to share this important column from Jonathan Chait I read last night:

Chait is far from the only media observer discussing the extent to which Lauer fell flat in trying to interview the two candidates for president. But Chait actually discusses what the failures mean, and in doing so, he keys in on something important.

"The average undecided voter is getting snippets of news from television personalities like Lauer," he writes, "who are failing to convey the fact that the election pits a normal politician with normal political failings against an ignorant, bigoted, pathologically dishonest authoritarian."
If you're on this email list, you've come to know a lot about Donald Trump -- his racist and divisive policies, his complete lack of qualifications for the presidency, and his visceral allergy to the facts.
But most voters aren't like us. Most people are picking up on politics when it finds them on Facebook, on the radio in the car, or when they flip through a magazine in line at the grocery store.
Their information is filtered through the press. And right now, a lot of journalists are failing to hold Trump accountable and grading him on a curve, while forcing Hillary to meet an entirely different standard.
So instead of most voters hearing about how Trump is empowering a new generation of white supremacists, for instance, and having that news placed in a proper, terrifying context, they read stories of Hillary and Trump lumped together.
And that makes our jobs in this election all the more important. We have to do what the media won't do. We have to be on the air, online, and at people's front doors, talking to them honestly about the stakes of this race.
And all of that takes resources. It takes you. I'm counting on you. You know this matters. Chip in $5 right now and make sure we can hold Trump's feet to the fire.

Hillary Clinton Rallies Charlotte Supporters as DNC Readies Convention Kick-Off

In Charlotte today, Hillary help a campaign event with enthusiastic supporters.



























The convention is open. Let's get the ball rolling!