Quick Morning News
FROM PHILADELPHIA

Morning Jumpstart

  • Hillary Clinton cracks glass ceiling
  • Bill <3 Hillary 
  • Focus on gun safety reform at convention
  • Sanders loyalists warn of party split
  • Report: Guccifer 2.0 is Russian agent
  • “Hillary Clinton” goes effing off…
Hillary Clinton Cracks Glass Ceiling (NYT, AP, WaPo, HuffPo, TMN, TMN, me)
• The Democratic convention formally nominated Hillary Clinton for president on Tuesday, making history by choosing a woman to be the first standard-bearer of a major political party, a breakthrough underscored by a deeply personal speech by Bill Clinton calling her “the best darn change-maker I have ever known.”
• At 6:39 pm, the hall erupted in cheers and joyful tears as South Dakota cast the decisive 15 votes to put Clinton over the threshold of 2,382 delegates required to clinch the nomination. A sea of delegates waved multicolored signs with Clinton’s “H’ campaign logo, while others hugged and several women jumped up and down with elation (was a sense of coming together now)
• Hillary Clinton made a surprise video appearance late in the evening, delighting delegates. “We just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet,” she said. But it was the appearance of Bill Clinton that stirred the crowd most, as he set out to share a more personal side of the sometimes-reserved SecState (people who know her, love her – but it doesn’t come across on TV)
• Unspooling memories of their 45 years together, Clinton used warm and detailed anecdotes to argue that the couple’s political enemies had created a “cartoon” of his wife. “One is real,” Clinton said, “the other is made up.” “You nominated the real one,” Clinton said to a long burst of applause. “She’ll never quit on you. She never quit on me” (and boy could she have)

• I thought it was notable that so many people who were personal friends of Hillary Clinton spoke so warmly about her throughout the evening. Huge contrast with the Republican convention. Did you notice that there were NO – zero – personal friends of Donald Trump who gave testimonials? Only his children. What does that say?
Bill Clinton: “I Met a Girl” 
• “In the spring of 1971, I met a girl,” he began. The former president’s tenth address to a Democratic convention was by far his most personal, a 42-minute tour through wedding proposals and Halloween parties, the deaths of parents and movie marathons (it was really astonishingly personal – new – will it make a difference to undecided voters?)
• Perhaps their worst moments – the Monica Lewinsky scandal, impeachment and legal battles that followed – were conspicuously omitted. The goal was to make Hillary Clinton relatable to voters. He cast her as a liberal heroine of her own story, who fought for education reform, health care, civil rights, the disabled, 9/11 first responders and economically depressed rural areas
• Recounting the day they moved daughter Chelsea into her freshman dorm at Stanford University, Clinton recounted how Mrs Clinton kept looking “for one more drawer to put that liner paper in,” reluctant to say goodbye to her only child (thought that was one of the most poignant stories)
• “I have lived a long and blessed life. It really took off when I met and fell in love with that girl in the spring of 1971,” Clinton said. “I married my best friend. And I really hoped that she choosing me and rejecting my own advice to pursue her own career was a decision she’d never regret.”
• President Obama speaks at the convention tonight on behalf of his onetime rival and former secstate. Republicans last week painted a dark record of America under siege. Obama will offer a sunnier vision of the nation. VP Joe Biden will speak, as will former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Clinton’s running mate Sen Tim Kaine (D-Va)
Focus on Gun Safety Reform (AP, me)
• A group of women who have lost children to gun violence or after contact with police took the stage to applause and chants of “black lives matter” on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention. Known as the Mothers of the Movement, the group includes Sybrina Fulton, whose 17-year-old son Trayvon Martin was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in 2012
• “Hillary Clinton has the compassion and understanding to support grieving mothers,” Fulton said. “She has the courage to lead the fight for common sense gun legislation.” (she’ll need it. intransigence in congress – and money from the powerful nra – are her enemies)
• Also taking the stage Tuesday were former U.S. AG Eric Holder and Pittsburgh Chief of Police Cameron McLay, who said it’s possible “to respect and support our police while at the same time pushing for these important criminal justice reforms.” (thought some in the crowd weren’t very respectful – kept talking while he addressed them)
• Hillary Clinton has made gun safety one of the foundations of her presidential campaign, vowing to overcome the legendary resistance of gun-rights advocates and their GOP allies to push for expanded criminal background checks and a renewal of a ban on assault weapons
• Her search for a breakthrough comes as Donald Trump has repeatedly touted the benefits of access to firearms as a way to counter acts of violence. Americans increasingly favor tougher gun laws by margins that have grown after the spate of recent mass shootings, according to a recent AP/Gfk poll (funny how lawmakers cite polls when it suits them – but not gun polls…)

• Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly responded to Michelle Obama’s statement in her commanding Democratic convention speech that slaves built the WH by saying that those slaves were “well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the govt.” (so that’s all right then) (TPM, me)
Sanders Loyalists Warn of Party Split (AP, NYT, TMN, TMN, me)
• Bernie Sanders loyalists warned that the Democratic Party could rupture over the nomination of Hillary Clinton after a volatile night that saw a large group of Sanders delegates and supporters exit the party’s national convention to stage a sit-in at a nearby media tent. Inside the tent, protesters formed a small circle, holding signs. “Silenced by her,” said one
• They rejected Sanders’ call for unity even after the Vermont senator took the symbolic step of declaring Clinton the winner of the state-by-state delegate count inside the convention in Philadelphia (if Sanders, who was actually running, could endorse Clinton, maybe it’s time for other people to get over it – and think of the Supreme Court – if they’re progressives, as they say)
• Thousands of activists have taken to the streets during the convention this week to voice support for Sanders, a liberal U.S. senator, and his progressive agenda. “We all have this unrealistic dream that democracy is alive in America,” said Debra Dilks of Boonville, Mo. “Hillary didn’t get the nomination. The nomination was stolen.”
• At the media tent protest, some had their mouths taped shut, while a few others spontaneously sang, “This land is our land.” In the streets outside, Sanders supporters who had spent the day protesting began facing off with police. They started scaling 8-foot walls that blocked off the secure zone around the arena parking lot. Police arrested four protesters
• Protests continued into the night. A handful of protesters started a fire beside a security fence. Someone placed an American flag into the fire, prompting a smattering of cheers but several objections, as others tried to douse the flames. An Israeli flag was burned in a fire – but not clear if it was the same fire

• Talk Media News’ intrepid reporters will provide on-the-scene coverage from the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia all this week. Check back here with Talk Media News throughout the day and throughout the week for news and interviews. I’m in Philadelphia with the rest of the TMN team – and it’s hot and humid here

Report: Guccifer 2.0 is Russian Agent (Daily Beast, Vocativ, me)
• The hacker who claims to have stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee and provided them to Wikileaks is actually an agent of the Russian govt and part of an orchestrated attempt to influence U.S. media coverage surrounding the presidential election, a security research group concluded on Tuesday

• Researchers at ThreatConnect traced the self-described Romanian hacker Guccifer 2.0 to an internet server in Russia and to a digital address that has been linked in the past to Russian online scams. Guccifer 2.0 is likely a collection of people from the propaganda arm of the Russian govt meant to deflect attention away from Moscow as the force behind the DNC hacks

• The researchers concluded Guccifer 2.0 is “a Russia-controlled platform, that can act as a censored hacktivist. Moscow determines what Guccifer 2.0 shares and thus can attempt to selectively impact media coverage, and potentially the election, in a way that ultimately benefits their national objectives.”

• I asked Carl Bernstein, one of the two reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal, whether there was any parallel between Watergate and the DNC hack. “Apples and oranges,” Bernstein said. “The Russians are constantly troving and in all of the institutional computer operations in Washington and New York and so I am going to presume that was how this was picked up”

• That finding matches the political motive that U.S. officials told the Daily Beast they have seen in Russia’s hacking of the DNC. The FBI said Monday it was investigating the breach, which a growing number in the Obama admin believe was designed to embarrass Democrats, exacerbate tensions between Clinton and Sanders and ultimately boost Donald Trump

• Researchers from cyber security firm CrowdStrike have publicly attributed the DNC breach to the work of two known Russian govt hacker groups that have also targeted U.S. govt agencies, the WH and American universities. The tactics and techniques in those campaigns match up with forensic evidence gathered from the DNC breach

• American intel agencies have told the WH they have “high confidence” the Russian govt was behind the theft of emails and docs from the DNC. In an interview with NBC News Tuesday, President Obama stopped short of accusing the Russian agencies of seeking to manipulate the election, but said, Anything’s possible” and noted they “try to influence elections in Europe.” (NYT)

“Hillary Clinton” Goes Effing Off (Medium, me)
• “What the f**k is your problem, America??” asks Hillary Clinton
[parody] in a Medium post that went viral Tuesday. “I’m Hillary goddamn Clinton. …I’m willing to spend the next eight years catching sh*t on all sides, all so I can fix the f**king country for you. And all you little bitches need to do is get off your asses one goddamn day in November.”
• “‘Oh, but what about your eeeemaaaailllls???’ Shut the f**k up. Seriously, shut the f**k up and listen for one f**king second. Here’s all you need to know about me: In 1992, I said I was proud to have followed my career instead of baking cookies. The GOP f**king dragged me for it. They made me bake cookies. They’re scared of me.” …
• “But you know what? I don’t f**king care. If I gave two sh*ts about the haters I would’ve dropped the game decades ago. You know why I keep fighting? Because we all want the same sh*t. – [gives details of sh*t] – And I’m the only person in this goddamn country who knows how to do it.” …
• “Look, this is the big leagues. If you think any problem has a tweetable solution, you’re just wrong. If you think “border wall” or “muslims = bad” is gonna solve our problems, I don’t have time for your sh*t. … I know you don’t want to read long, boring things. So I do it for you, and I ask a bunch of smart people, and we come up with sh*t that works …
• “The GOP just spent their entire convention fantasizing about literally imprisoning me. They are terrified. They know what I can do. I’ve spent my life clawing my way into a system that’s terrified of change. A system that just wants to let rich white dudes be rich white dudes. And holy sh*t, you guys, I could not have picked a better opponent for my final boss battle.” (holy hill!)

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_________________
Victoria Jones – Editor
News is news
Comments are my own