More headaches in Syria: According to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russia is sending attack helicopters to the Syrian government. If this is true, it will undoubtedly set back international efforts to resolve the conflict. Russia, along with China, is Syria’s strongest international ally, and continues to block Western countries’ efforts to take harsher action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. If the US’s intelligence is correct, not only is Russia not taking a harder line against Assad; it’s actually sending him more weapons. Oy vey. (Picture credit: Sergei Zhukov/AFP/Getty). source
Today in the U.S. losing patience (part two): While Hillary Clinton was toughening up her stance against Bashar al-Assad, Leon Panetta was getting similarly tough on Pakistan, which he claims is ”allowing terrorists to use their country as a safety net in order to conduct their attacks on our forces.” Panetta has been tough on Pakistan in the past, particularly their inaction regarding fighting terrorism, despite the U.S. giving the country billions of dollars in aid. Pakistan’s relationship with the U.S. was recently strained when they jailed a doctor who helped American forces find Osama bin Laden. (Above: Panetta with Afghan Minister of Defense Abdul Rahim Wardak, via the Secretary of Defense’s Flickr page)
Assad must transfer power and depart Syria. The regime-sponsored violence that we witnessed again in Hama yesterday is simply unconscionable. Assad has doubled down on his brutality and his duplicity and Syria will not, cannot be peaceful, stable or certainly democratic until Assad goes.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton • Saying, in no uncertain terms, that she wants Bashar al-Assad out of Syria. She emphasized that the U.S. is willing to work with the UN Security Council to reach this goal. Clinton’s latest statement comes on the heels of a massacre near Hama on Wednesday that led to the deaths of at least 78 villagers (according to UN observers), including up to 40 women and children.
Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
May 26, 2012The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms yesterday’s massacre in the Syrian village of Haoula. United Nations observers have confirmed that dozens of men, women, and children were killed and hundreds more wounded in a vicious assault that involved a regime artillery and tank barrage on a residential neighborhood.
Those who perpetrated this atrocity must be identified and held to account. And the United States will work with the international community to intensify our pressure on Asad and his cronies, whose rule by murder and fear must come to an end.
We stand in solidarity with the Syrian people and the peaceful marchers in cities across Syria who have taken to the streets to denounce the massacre in Haoula.
Tough words from the Secretary of State. But will this be a turning point in the perception of the situation in Syria? Clearly, some are using this as a catalyst to further bring attention to the atrocities happening there.
Meme of the Year Nominees (Taken with instagram)
Hey everybody, do Stacy and Adam a favor and vote for Texts From Hillary for the “Meme of the Year” Webby award!
Jason Segel wants to make a movie with Hillary Clinton. Problem is, Hills is busy. But not busy enough to write a cute rejection letter to the actor. Enjoy.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dances with members of her delegation in the Cafe Havana salsa bar, during a break from the Americas Summit in Cartagena April 15, 2012. [REUTERS/Raul Palacios-Colprensa]
READ MORE: Clinton dances after midnight at Cafe Havana
Basically Hillary Clinton is having a resurgence simply by being herself.
Great moments in meme history: Adam Smith and Stacy Lambe, creators of “Texts from Hillary Clinton,” live on CNN talking about their creation with Soledad O’Brien. This ranks as among the greatest individual moments in Tumblr history.
It’s been an overwhelming—and hilarious—week for us here at Texts from Hillary (TFH). What started as a joke at the bar between two friends turned into a national conversation about Secretary Clinton and went as far as talks about 2016.
After a week that included 32 posts, 83,000 shares on Facebook, 8,400 Twitter followers, over 45K Tumblr followers, news stories around the world, Renee Montagne from Morning Edition saying “ROFL,” a Maureen Dowd column, and a tweet from ?uest Love, we think it’s time to stop while we are ahead.As far as memes go – it has gone as far as it can go. Is it really possible to top a submission from the Secretary herself? No. But then when you get to text with her in real life – it’s just over. At least for us. But we have no doubt it will live on with all of you on the Internet.
The site will stay up but we won’t be posting anything new here. You can follow us on Twitter (@ASmith83, @Sllambe) and Tumblr (Stacy at ImWithKanye and Adam’s work account, Public Campaign Action Fund).
Thanks for all the LOLz. We truly appreciate all the support.It turns out that memes really do come true.
-Stacy and Adam
Happy to see that they went out on top.
» Timeline, not process: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also had tough words for UN envoy Kofi Annan’s Syrian peace plan — essentially, it can’t just drag on. ”There cannot be process for the sake of process. There has to be a timeline,” she said. “If Assad continues as he has, to fail to end the violence, to institute a cease-fire, to withdraw his troops from the areas he has been battering … then it’s unlikely he is going to ever agree.” The U.S. was one of the countries that took part in a ”Friends of the Syrian People” summit held in Istanbul this weekend.
Yahoo wants to buy Hulu now too. They’re going on an “I...
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Hillary Clinton digs into mystery of Amelia Earhart’s disappearance: Clinton will meet today with a group that’s launching a new effort to try to find Earhart’s plane wreckage. Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan went missing in 1937 off the remote island of Nikumaroro, in what’s now the nation of Kiribati. source
Developing: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on all nations to place travel bans and freeze the assets of senior Syrian officials. Clinton also called on nations to boycott Syrian oil and suspend new investments.
Clinton said the Syrian government and allied states will have “even more blood on their hands” if aid is not allowed into the country, and said Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad will pay a “heavy price” for violating the rights of the Syrian people.
Reuters.com will have the latest on this story as it becomes available
What comes after this, if this doesn’t work?
Syria: Hillary Clinton says Russia was unwilling to budge on UN resolution: “I thought that there might be some ways to bridge, even at this last moment, a few of the concerns that the Russians had,” she told the Munich Security Conference. “I offered to work in a constructive manner to do so. That has not been possible.” source
Every member of the Council has to make a decision: Whose side are you on? Are you on the side of the Syrian people? Are you on the side of the Arab League? Are you on the side of the people of the Middle East and North Africa who have during this past year spoken out courageously and often for their rights? Or are you on the side of a brutal, dictatorial regime?U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton • Stating her case to the UN Security Council, on the matter of the violent turmoil that continues in Syria. Clinton is clearly arguing on somewhat simplistic moral grounds, trying to put more pressure on Russia, which has said they’ll veto a resolution if it mandates that Bashar al-Assad step down from power. In particular, memory of the NATO mission in Libya is likely in play — Russia approved a resolution to protect Libyan civilians, only to see it broaden into a mission to depose dictator Muammar Gaddafi, which they opposed. Consequently, they’re now unwilling to agree to a resolution that carries either the overt or implied goal of regime change. source (via • follow)
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
