Bill Clinton the Horrible

If someone has done a full and honest assessment of Bill Clinton's presidency, I would really like to see it. It is stunning how many ills Clinton's two terms in office inflicted, directly or indirectly, on the American people and the world. Some of the worst stuff happened after he left office, but make no mistake: he prepared the way.

Thus it is no exaggeration to say that Clinton helped make the 21st century, in its most horrible respects, what it is.

By my casual accounting, Clinton strengthened the intrusive national-"security" state, specifically regarding "domestic terrorism" (signing the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which included limiting the federal power of habeas corpus); accerlated the mass-imprisonment state and expanded by 50 the list of federal crimes carrying the death penalty (by signing the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994); paved the way for the 2008 Great Recession and costly bank bailouts through his HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo's fevered promotion of subprime mortgages; set the stage for 9/11 and mass surveillance by the NSA with his bombing of Iraq, continued starving of Iraqi kids, support for Israel's persecution of the Palestinians, and bombing raids in Afghanistan and Sudan (destroying a pharmaceutical factory in the latter) after attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa; and sowed the ground for Vladimir Putin's rise to power in 2000 and the future Russia-Ukraine war by starting the expansion of NATO years after the Soviet Union had disappeared, leading NATO forces in the bombing and occupation of Russia ally Serbia, and promoting by force the secession of Kosovo from Serbia. Clinton also facilitated the looting of Russia on behalf of Western interests and Russian oligarchs.

I'm sure this is not an exhaustive list.

So Bill Clinton, who lives the good life as a prestigious figure worldwide, gave us a fortified carceral and death-penalty state, the housing-market collapse and bank-bailout state, 9/11 and the "war on terror"/mass surveillance state, and the new cold war with Russia. That is quite an achievement for one president. How can we thank him?

Maybe it's a good thing his co-president didn't get elected in 2016.

Oh Joy! With Hillary We Get Bill!

Hillary Clinton vows to draw on Bill Clinton's "wealth of experience." Let's see, that would include:

• starving Iraqi children through sanctions (helping to provoke 9/11) 
• mass murder via bombing (Bosnia, Kosovo, then Iraq -- helping to provoke 9/11) 
• promoting subprime mortgages and securitization (with the help of Andrew Cuomo -- setting the stage for the housing crash and Great Recession)
• mass incarceration
• capital punishment
• unleashing Attorney General Janet Reno, BATF, and the Delta Force on the Branch Davidians at Waco
• the coverup of the truth of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City (which was a neo-Nazi atrocity committed in response to Waco) 
• using cruise missiles to destroy pharmaceutical factories in Africa
• threatening Russia by incorporating into NATO former Soviet allies and republics up to Russia's doorstep in violation of GHWB's assurances to the contrary
• unflagging support for Israel's violations of Palestinians' rights (again, helping to provoke 9/11).

Gotta hand it to Bill. He accomplished a lot in eight short years -- all that while fooling around with an intern. How did the man do it?

How lucky are we to have all that experience to draw on?

Who, Whom?

"Bill and I have been blessed," Hillary Clinton says about their big speaking fees. Yes, but blessed by whom?

Bill Clinton and the Bogus Iranian Threat

Tragically, President George H.W. Bush passed up a chance for a rapprochement with Iran because, after the Soviet Union imploded, the national-security apparatus needed a new threat to stave off budget cutters in Congress. Iran became the “manufactured crisis,” according to author Gareth Porter’s new book by that title.

Doubly tragic, Bush’s successor, Bill Clinton, compounded the dangerous folly by hyping the bogus threat. Why? That might be a good question for progressives to ask possible presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who enjoys basking in her husband’s supposed presidential successes.

Read all about it here.

An Answer for Hillary Clinton

When Hillary Clinton refers to her husband's presidency, she likes to ask: Which part didn't you like, the peace or the prosperity?

Well, I didn't like his murderous bombing in the Balkans and Iraq, and his child-killing sanctions on Iraq (which helped lead to 9/11). I didn't like his screwing over of the Palestinians and unswerving support for the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine. I also didn't like his housing-bubble-inflating HUD policies.

What say you, Mrs. Clinton? Do you support those policies?