For Democrats It's Back to the Future: Chicago '68 Coming to Philadelphia 2016

Not since 1968 and the massive demonstrations against the Vietnam war during the Democratic convention in Chicago will Democrats see the kind of  anger, resentment and passion they will see directed against them by Sanders supporters and more specifically against Hillary Clinton who has become the Ma Barker,Imelda Marcos and Eva Peron of American politics for her corrupting the democratic process in collusion with the DNC and a Banana Republic news media to steal and rig the Democratic nomination. 

The demonstrations  and protests promise to be massive and disruptive against what amounted to a Hillary Clinton-Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and DNC criminal enterprise to steal the nomination from Bernie Sanders to make good on promises made to Clinton in 2008 in return for not contesting the nomination against Obama. Its already started to come back to haunt them.

It was going to happen even before a Wikileaks email dump confirmed that Clinton, the DNC and the notorious Debby Wasserman-Schultz, their super delegates and just about everyone associated with the Democratic party establishment all the way down to Obama were part of what amounted to election fraud,rigging and collusion making them the most dishonest, corrupt, fraudulent collection of  Democrats overseeing the most dishonest election process since Boss Tweed rigged elections in New York in the 1850's.

There were going to be huge protests by Sanders supporters against Clinton anyway for the fraud and rigging of a nomination she never would have won otherwise. But the email dump by Wikileaks confirmed  how deeply politically corrupt the Democratic party was and how much in collusion with banana republic journalists at  MESSNBC, the usual collection of sycophants and cowards at CNN, the corrupt journalists at AP, The Hill,Politico and NY Times Hillary Clinton's campaign really was. 

Which explains why when anonymous superdelegates came out of the woodwork in Februrary to make unofficial declarations for the first time in political history for Clinton the news media not only didn't question what was going on they dishonestly added those unofficial declarations to Clinton's pledged delegate totals making the current collection of journalists at CNN,MSNBC,AP and others the most dishonest and politically corrupt the country has ever had. 

The corporate media was and is as opposed to Trump as to Sanders and ironically for the same basic reason: neither serves corporate interests. Trump can't be bought because of his money, Sanders can't be bought because of his integrity but they all know Clinton can be bought. And has been. And so the corporate media has been slanting coverage for Clinton in collusion with the DNC from the beginning.

The exposure of emails showing the depths of collusion between Clinton,the DNC and the news media with thousands more emails to come has created an even uglier situation for Democrats than they anticipated and has put them in a political quick sand which will continue to drag them down.And like real quick sand the more they struggle to get out of it the more it will drag them down.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz' resignation as Chair of the DNC and her immediate hiring by Hillary Clinton as co-chair of her campaign re-enforces the reality that Hillary Clinton is a political criminal running a politically criminal enterprise and the DNC has been nothing more than her gang. And Donna Brazile who will replace Wasserman-Schultz is no better than she was. 

It was Brazile who, in 2008 when super delegates looked like they would go Clinton's way, announced she would quit the Democratic party if super delegates decided the nomination. And they never voted. Instead a backroom deal was cut between Obama and Clinton which included Clinton being named Secretary of State. But it also included promises made for 2016  that we've seen played out during the primaries. Sanders was the fly in the ointment they never anticipated but the Clinton campaign knew the fix would be in one way or another. It was why they were so confident,making statements from both Clinton and Robby Mook her campaign manager that there was no chance she wouldnt be the nominee. It was a confession. They knew the process was rigged for Clinton.

With Donna Brazile now acting as Chair, Clinton has the same dishonest ally she had in Baby Faced Wasserman-Schultz. Brazile railed against super delegates in 2008 but as part of the fix for 2016 supported super delegate declarations for Clinton that started back in February.

But the chickens are coming home to roost. Brazile said in 2008 that if super delegates decided the nomination she would quit the Democratic party. Sanders voters are going to do the same and all those statistics put out by the same colluding news outlets claiming a majority of Sanders voters will vote for Clinton is as dishonest and fabricated as their other coverage since January. Sanders voters and supporters despise Clinton and the DNC to such a degree they would rather go without food than vote for Clinton. 

And even Sanders anticipated support for Clinton won't change that. Everyone knows having run as a Democrat Sanders has no choice but to endorse her. Who else would he back? A 3rd party candidate when he has caucused with Democrats fur 25 years? 

  

But any attempt by Clinton supporters or the DNC to stifle or repress Sanders supporters expressing their disgust for Clinton  or their support for Sanders either inside the convention center or out is going to be met with the kind of resistance that will overshadow Clinton and anything the DNC does over the next three days. And if it gets really ugly Clinton and the DNC and for his part Obama who is actually the force behind all of it since the DNC marches to his orders, will be to blame. But that doesn't mean it has to be violent.

When people think of Chicago '68 they automatically think violence but the violence in '68 was caused by the Chicago police who initiated the violence in an attempt to silence or stifle demonstrators. They were ordered to do it by Mayor Richard Daly who didn't want the demonstrations to overshadow the convention. They got the opposite. And Democrats lost in November.

The DOJ investigation into the violence at the '68 convention called it " a police riot". It was the Chicago police out of control and violent not the demonstrators.

It is not likely Philadelphia's mayor will be that stupid even if Clinton and the DNC are, and so the protests will be loud, raucous, embarrassing for Clinton and the Democrats and will cripple their chances of winning in November, something the Democrats and Clinton richly deserve but there is no reason to think it will be violent.

Unless the DNC does some really stupid things and from what we've seen from their emails stupid is very possible. Like trying to  physically take way pro-Sanders signs from his delegates in which case Sanders  delegates will no doubt resist. Or even more stupid,  if the DNC tries to skip a roll call vote that Clinton cant win on the first ballot which would force super delegates to vote, the only way Clinton can get the nomination which will  certainly turn off viewers around the country including independent voters.

If the DNC tries to stop a roll call in order to avoid Clinton having to endure the national embarrassment of a prime time vote where Sanders will record almost as many pledged delegates as she did without securing the nomination on the first ballot, if they pass resolutions like trying to  nominate Clinton through acclimation which means through a voice vote where its agreed Clinton is the nominee and all votes are officially recorded for her (it was done dishonestly for Obama in 2008), if that happens and Sanders delegates are denied the chance to cast their 1900 votes (to Clinton's 2200+) on the first ballot all hell is going to break loose inside the convention center and out. Hopefully the DNC isnt that stupid. 

No matter which way it goes its going to be bad for the DNC, the Democratic party as a whole and Clinton specifically.

The convention promises to be everything Clinton and the DNC didnt want courtesy of Sanders voters who are not going to take Clinton and the DNC's corruption lying down. And all  of it is something Clinton, the Democratic party and the DNC brought on themselves with their blatant cheating, lying, election fraud, news media collusion distortion and manipulation. And with the emails confirming they are corrupt to the core they will probably pay for it dearly both in Philadelphia and in November.

For Obama and Nice (And Now Munich) a New Terrorist Attack But the Same Old Response.

(Note since publishing this piece this morning another terrorist attack, this time in a Munich shopping mall. Its still an ongoing situation but reports are multiple dead, some reports have the number at 15. And everything written below before this latest attack applies even more now)


Given the atrocities of the recent attack in Nice, it seemed appropriate to recall what was written here last November right after the Paris attacks,holding accountable those whose failures to act decisively both before Paris and after continued to allow these attacks and atrocities to happen thanks to their continued avoidance to do what needed to be done.

Unfortunately nothing has changed. And San Bernadino, Brussels, Istanbul, Orlando and now Nice is the result ( there is still no confirmation of who is behind the Munich attack).

There is and has been a steadfast refusal by Obama to send American troops to Iraq to destroy Isis. Instead we get the same worthless worn out cliches we've heard before when after the attack in Nice Obama issued a statement saying he "condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms". Which as everyone knows sent Isis doubling over with remorse and begging forgiveness. It didn't get them on the run either. Which,incredibly, is exactly what John Kerry, living in his unicorn fantasy world, claimed after the Nice attack. That Isis was on the run. Which was like telling someone who was just beaten and robbed that crime is going down.

After each attack we hear the same old broken record of how hard it is to stop these attacks from people who have been radicalized, how hard it is to prevent attacks by people who went to Iraq or Syria to be trained by Isis and then return to their respective countries to commit atrocities. And yet no one has given a thought to: what if there was no longer anywhere for these aspiring terrorists to go? What if there was nothing for them to return from? What if Isis was destroyed and there was nothing left of their fighters, or leaders, or web sites and computers or anything else? What if they were actually destroyed?

The deep thinkers that pop up on TV news shows say things like " but how do you defeat or destroy an ideology? How do you destroy an idea"? How about just destroy Isis first and worry about the ideas later? No one sat around during WWII worrying about how to destroy  Nazi ideology. They destroyed the Nazis. That seemed to do the trick.

That means destroying Isis with deeds not words and what a real leader would have done 3 years ago: send as many troops as necessary to destroy them. Which is what previous Secretaries of Defense had suggested before resigning over Obama's unwillingness to act and what former Chairman of the Joints Chiefs, General Dempsy testified to congress in 2014 he was prepared to do. It was Obama who wasn't.

The Nice attack is one more painful reminder of the failures of judgment, will and backbone that has been the hallmark of Obama's presidency in dealing with just about everything, a presidency Hillary Clinton, whose own failures as Secretary of State along with her personal failures thinks the country needs for four more years.

It's not that we don't know where Isis is. And it's not like we don't know how many there are - 30,000 fighters in Iraq. Sending troops to destroy them with air support already there means no more Isis fighters in Iraq,no more training facilities,no more  infrustructure,no more places in Iraq to attract and train and radicalize more terrorists to send back to their countries. But instead of sending troops Obama sends thoughts and prayers. And he sent them again after learning of the attack in Munich.

Today (July 22) it was announced in Paris  (before the Munich attack) that France would not send French ground troops to Iraq. Its understandable. If the U.S. is not going to lead, if the U.S. is not going to send troops it makes no sense for the French to go it alone.

In Sept 2014 then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dempsey testified in front of two congressional committees that he was prepared to recommend sending 90,000 U.S. troops to Iraq to defeat and destroy Isis once and for all. Obama said no.Which is probably why Dempsey is no longer Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Its why three of Obama's Secretaries of Defense resigned.

Instead,Obama did what he does most and does best -- he lied to avoid having to do anything.

At a press conference the day after the Paris attacks (which was two days after he said Isis had been "contained ,a statement he made the morning of the attack) Obama said in answer to a question about sending ground troops to defeat Isis, "not one of my top military advisors has ever recommended sending ground troops to fight Isis". Perhaps Obama didnt consider the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs one of his top commanders. Or maybe he knew he could lie to a collection of incompetent dead fish posing as journalists and get away with it as he has many times before.

Since then Obama has authorized a few hundred commandos to be sent to fight Isis. Dempsey said 90,000. Dempsey's number makes sense. With 30,000 Isis fighters in Iraq you send in overwhelming force which makes it safer for the troops going in and accomplishes the mission faster.  And that number doesnt include forces from NATO countries who would join including the French. So the 90,000 doesnt have to be all U.S. troops.

 Dempsey didnt pull that number out of a hat or ask a Magic 8 Ball. He had military planners at the Pentagon war game a mobilization and give a force assessment needed and a plan. Dempsey wouldnt have bothered to have military planners come up with a plan if he thought sending troops to destroy Isis wasnt necessary.Or advisable.

How many attacks and loss of life will it take before Obama decides that his condemnations and thoughts and prayers  and his heart going out are not enough? No one can say. But a leader acts to prevent a tragedy. And Obama is not a leader. Hopefully it won't take another mass casualty attack in the U.S. to force his reluctant hand. But it might. 

And let's not forget the refugee crisis with tens of thousands of refugees pouring into Europe while many are seeking asylum in the U.S. which has created another problem of its own.These refugees are coming from Syria.Running from Isis.

Bernard Henri-Levy a French writer and philosopher said after the Paris attacks, "no boots on the ground in Iraq means more blood on the ground in France and the U.S." He's been proved right. And if there is any real controversy over whether troops should be sent, there are two choices: follow the advice of the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, three Secretaries of Defense and the dictates of common sense, or the judgement of the president who three years ago shrugged Isis off as no problem and called them "the junior varsity".

From the beginning three years ago and with each subsequent attack it is Obama's handling of Isis and terrorism that deserves to be condemned. And now more than ever in the strongest possible terms.

Clinton and the FBI Decision: A Comey of Errors.

James Comey is an honest man. A man who's integrity is beyond reproach. And nothing about that has changed with his decision not to recommend prosecution of Hillary Clinton for what was clearly her blatant disregard for State Department rules regarding the protection of sensitive to classified national security documents and in his words, her "extreme carelessness" which many argue is the same as negligent which by statute would rise to the level of a felony.

But the error James Comey made in deciding against recommending criminal prosecution for Clinton was not about the evidence which speaks for itself, it was Comey's reasoning, not some adolescent comic book conspiracy theory about a fix that some believe.

The primary reason Comey gave for not recommending prosecution was that he could not find any precedent to prosecute based on Clinton's actions. And, he said, he went all the way back to 1917 and the origin of the statute through to the present  to look. And therein lies his error.

James Comey felt because there was no precedent there ought not to be a prosecution. However in the case of Hillary Clinton based on the facts,specifics and the times in which we live and technology available that was not available to any other Secretary of State or State Department employee between 1917 and 2008, what was needed in Clinton's case was not to look for a precedent but to set one.

And the reason setting a precedent in Clinton's case was called for was  the simple fact that everything Hillary Clinton did was in fact,  unprecedented.

Her actions and behavior were aided and abetted and made possible by a technology that simply didnt exist from 1917 through 2008. And her motive, to avoid her emails being disclosed through the Freedom of Information Act, also didnt exist until 1967 and was then had to be amended in 1996 to cover electronic communications like computer email.

Because of all these things, Clinton's actions deserved a precedent setting prosecution based on unprecedented behavior made possible by unprecedented technology and a motive that didnt exist until 1996.

Clinton is only the third Secretary of State to serve during the high tech era of Information Technology and the information age. The first two were Colin Powell from 2001-2004 and Condoleeza Rice from 2004-2008.

But the technology available during Powell and Rice's tenure was almost horse and buggy compared to what exists now and what was available to Clinton when she was Secretary of State and what she in fact used.

What Clinton did with her private server and multiple hand held devices violated multiple and serious specific State Department rules regulations and guidelines against doing specifically those things and would disqualify anyone from having any security clearances at all from sensitive to Top Secret. Those guidelines didnt exist till 2006, before Powell's tenure and two years into Rice's and so to look for precedent to use to prosecute Clinton made no sense.

Clinton's violations had no relation to anything that could have been envisioned from 1917 through 1996-2006. And no relation to anything Colin Powell or Condoleeza Rice did or could have done, which Clinton dishonestly has tried to use to compare and justify her own blatant violations.

Further, Clinton's claim that she did it for convenience is in its own way even more damning  than the real reason of avoiding the Freedom of Information Act to keep secret work related emails she didnt want people to see or know about. Clinton's claim of convenience portrays her as a self centered,narrow minded,reckless and feckless  character who put her own trivial and selfish need for personal convenience ahead of national security guidelines. So even her dishonest public statement about why she did it is character revealing.

That Clinton offered that as the reason she was willing to violate specific StateDepartment rules and regulations pertaining to protected confidential State Department material makes Clinton look petty,conniving and irresponsible.

State Department guidelines for protecting all material, not just classified as the guidelines state, were not there for Clinton's convenience and that she disregarded those guidelines and used personal convenience as her excuse makes Clinton unqualified to handle such documents.

Hillary Clinton compounded her lies when she repeatedly said that "Colin Powell did the same thing". Colin Powell did not do the same thing. What Colin Powell did compared to Clinton is the difference between riding a bicycle and driving a Formula One racer. And Powell did not violate any State Department guidelines with regards to handling sensitive or classified material.

For the record, the "same thing" that Powell did that Clinton had tried to use as an excuse to justify her conduct was that from 2000-2004 when he was Secretary of State Colin Powell had an AOL email account. AOL.

Hillary Clinton wants you to compare Powell having an AOL email account which was never used to communicate sensitive or classified information, to her own use of a private email server  in the basement of her home used with mutiple hand held devices (which blows her "convenience" story of only wanting one device for everything for anyone brainless enough to have believed it in the first place) in which she sent and received over 55,000 State Department emails, 110 of them classified.

 That is Clinton's idea of Powell's having done the "same thing". It shows an almost pathological willingness to lie about anything for self-serving reasons. And she wonders why a large majority say she is dishonest and untrustworthy.

It  was an error of logic and reasoning on Comey's part to recommend against prosecuting Clinton based on a lack of precedent when, in  the case of Hillary Clinton precedent was exactly what was called for.What Clinton did was unprecedented and she did it with unprecedented equipment and it called for an unprecedented prosecution.

In citing the case of David Patraeus Comey pointed out that he had physical hard copies of classified material  hidden in a drawer in his home. That could easily have found precedent and similar conduct between 1917 - 2008 and so precedent was easy to find.  There was  no precedent to what Clinton did and so precedent should never have been the deciding factor.

Investigators and prosecutors when looking at a crime and a suspect always boil it down to means, motive and opportunity. From 1917  - 2008 the means motive and opportunity that applied to Clinton didn't exist.

 Her motive didn't exist because prior to 1996 there was no Freedom of Information Act covering electronic communications which was her motive for using a private server  to prevent her emails from being made public. And the means and opportunity didn't exist because the technology she used didn't exist between 1917 and 1996-2008.

No one can disagree that what Clinton did was unprecedented. It should have been met with a precedent setting prosecution applying today's realities, facts and technology, facts and realities that existed while Clinton was Secretary of State which gave her the means motive and opportunity to do what she did but did not exist for anyone else between 1917 and 2008.

It will now be up to the Inspector General of the State Department to decide whether or not Clintons security clearances will be revoked for her irrefutable disqualifying violations of 5 applicable State Department guidelines that disqualify someone from a security clearance. Those disqualifying guidelines are specified in paragraphs b,c,g,h,i  of Section K on handling protected information which can be read here. 

There will be no need to review Clinton's security clearances for a precedent because the guidelines which were written in 2006 are so specific and apply to Clinton's violations, conduct and behavior with such specificity you would think they were written by a Republican committee member two weeks ago just to apply to Clinton.

As Comey pointed out, in spite of deciding not to prosecute, just because he found no precedent to charge Clinton with one or more felonies,(error or not) that did not mean there would be no consequences for someone who did what Clinton did and Comey mentioned security clearance sanctions as an example.

 If Clinton's security clearances  are revoked it will have almost the same effect as her being indicted. It would be impossible for her to run for president in spite of many of her supporters who think it would be ok even if she had to wear an ankle bracelet and report to a parole officer while president.

If on the other hand Clinton's security clearances are not revoked when any State Department employee with  the same violations based on established guidelines would have not only been fired but had all their security clearances stripped, if after all of  Clinton's deliberate and intentional disqualifying violations along with her repeated public lying about those violations and her refusal to cooperate with the Inspector General, if  after all of that her security clearances are not revoked as they would with anyone else,it would be the biggest breach of public trust in government since Watergate. And that would not be a  comedy of errors, but a tragedy. For the whole country. And for the future.

Comey Shreds Clinton Character and Conduct But Says Not a Felon. But It's Not Over.

Almost everyone is finding it hard to understand why, based on the case and evidence laid out against Hillary Clinton by FBI Director Jim Comey, he made the decision not to indict.

 

Comey presented a case littered with conduct by Hillary Clinton that included "extreme carelessness" in mishandling  classified government information that ran the gamut from "sensitive" to "Top Secret"and how thoroughly dishonest Hillary Clinton was in lying to the public about everything related to her server from "there was no classified information on my server" ,"I did not send or receive any classified information" ( she sent or received 110 documents that were classified)  "I turned over everything" ( there were thousands of her emails she did not turn over) and more which to many seemed to violate laws that Comey believed couldn't be

successfully prosecuted.

 

One of the main bones of contention with Comey's decision was his finding that there was no "intent" on Clinton's part to violate these laws. But the wording of the law itself is not limited to "intent", but says "intent or negligent" . Comey has characterized Clinton's conduct as "extreme carelessness". Many have wondered what the distinction is between "extreme carelessness" in handling classified material and "negligence" especially when Comey said Clinton "knew or should have known" the material was classified, some were actually marked "classified" and that "someone in her position knew or should have known that her unsecured private server was no place to have these conversations".

 

Why that isn't negligence hasn't been answered but Comey's presentation against Clinton was as devastating politically as an indictment would have been criminally.

 

Its a reflection of those supporting Hillary Clinton that many think its a positive to be able to say Hillary Clinton is not a felon. But were it not for Comey making a  distinction between "extreme carelessness" and "negligence" Hillary Clinton would be on her way to getting a mug shot.

 

Regardless Comey's statement about Clinton makes her the most untrustworthy patently dishonest person the Democrats have ever run for president placing Barrack Obama firmly in second.

 

But glossed over by almost everyone in their focus on whether Clinton would be indicted was something almost as serious that still hangs over her. And may still end her candidacy. And Comey alluded to it.

 

Comey said in his decision not to recommend an indictment," this is not to suggest that a person engaged in this activity (all the things Clinton did) would face no consequences. To the contrary. Those individuals (like Clinton) are often subject to security or administrative sanctions. But that is not what we are deciding now".

 

Saying " this is not what we are deciding now" clearly leaves the door open and implies other decisions in the future regarding Clinton, and his statement at the time was purely about whether Clinton would be criminally indicted.

 

Which means there is reason for Clinton and her supporters not to breath too easily yet. Its not over.

 

There is good reason to believe based on  Comey's statement and presentation of evidence against Clinton which rose to the level of "extreme carelessness", combined with what we know were her intentionally false public statements from "my server was approved" to her false claims (the AP counted 7)made regarding her handling of classified documents as well as other transgressions including the possibility of her unsecured server being hacked and using her private server  to discuss sensitive matters while within countries that are "adversarial to the United States",  there is every possibility that Hillary Clinton is going to lose her National Security clearances.

  

The State Dept announced they are opening investigations into all of Clinton's staff to determine if security clearances will be revoked at State. It's unclear if Clinton is included in the review but there is no reason to think she wouldn't be.

If Clinton has her security clearances revoked for her clear and irrefutable violations of 4 and possibly 5 of the guidelines that can disqualify someone from a security clearance her candidacy is over. It's farce to think anyone who is disqualified from a security clearance and can't receive classified or Top Secret information can be president.

 

Being labeled a security risk and losing her security clearances would end Clinton's candidacy as much as an indictment.

 

After viewing State Department guidelines related to national security clearances and what disqualifies someone from a security clearance that allows them to handle classified information defined in Section K under "handling protected information" it's clear Hillary Clinton violated a minimum of 4 and probably 5 of the guidelines (par. b,c g,h,i of Section K) that would disqualify her from seeing or handling classified information of any kind.(The guidelines can be read here)

There are 3 mitigating circumstances in which someone violating national security guidelines might not have their clearances revoked and not one of them apply to Clinton.

In other words, right now Hillary Clinton couldn't get a job at the State Department or get a Top Secret security clearance. In fact she would probably be disqualified from having any security clearance at all. Not a good thing to have on your resume if your running for president. And it is axiomatic that all government agencies honor the security clearances or disqualifications from one agency. 

Right now based on Comey's presentation and State Department guidelines regarding handling of classified information, Hillary Clinton would be considered a security risk and denied security clearances at State.

 

Comey's statement that someone who did what Clinton did would face consequences such as security sanctions and  ending  with " but that's not what we are deciding now" implies that  is going to be decided.

Its almost impossible to believe that given what Comey laid out and existing precedent and State Department guidelines regarding handling of classified information and what constitutes a "security concern", that Hillary Clinton will not face security sanctions as anyone else would who, as Comey said, engaged in similar conduct and violated the same security rules Clinton did.

 

If State is going to make that evaluation one would think it will be soon. Before the Democratic convention. Because it is obvious that no one who is disqualified from having a national security clearance can be president.

 

If Clinton is not disqualified while her aides are  it might cause the biggest breach of public trust since Watergate. And people are going to want to know why.But given the scathing report against Clinton issued by the Inspector General at State it's not likely Clinton will get a pass.

Because as Comey said, there is precedent for people who engaged in conduct similar to or less than Clinton's who faced " security sanctions" . That means being stripped of your national security clearances. As Patraeus was. And there is every reason to believe the same will happen to Clinton. If she is part of the State Department investigation it is a  certainty Clinton  cannot survive a security review. If she is not part of the investigation people are going to want to know why and in all likelihood all hell will break loose in congress since there is no reason to exclude her.

 

For now Clinton and her supporters still have to shoulder Comey's scathing indictment of Clinton, her lying, her "extreme carelessness" in mishandling classified information and a litany of other transgressions from "knew or should have known", to making US classified information vulnerable to "hostile actors", and so much more that even some friendly news outlets have called it "devastating" and have been pounding away at her. That is not going to go away.

 

The last straw may come with the State Dept  revoking her security clearances.That would effectively  end her run for president.

If that happens,in spite of not being indicted for felonies,stripping Clinton of her national security clearances would end her presidential run.She would have to drop out. And if that happened it could be said that in the end the punishment will have fit the crime.

NOTE: The State Department announced today (July 8) they have opened an investigation into Hillary Clinton's security clearances.

 

 

 

 

Bill Clinton's Lack of Intelligence Mission With Loretta Lynch.

Loretta Lynch has been taking a lot of heat from every quarter for not throwing Bill Clinton off her plane. And maybe it's valid. But its also true that Lynch was ambushed by Bill Clinton when he showed up unannounced while her plane sat on the tarmac at Phoenix betting Lynch wouldnt throw him off. He was right.

When Clinton boarded that plane he knew what he was doing. And no doubt that Lynch suspected it too.There is also little doubt that Bill knew that what he was doing was not just inappropriate but putting Lynch in the position of having to violate the DOJ's code of conduct to talk to him. Clinton knew that too and didnt care. For one reason. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

That all Clinton did was talk about golf and his grandchildren is no doubt true. But it had a purpose.

And Bill Clinton's purpose in boarding Lynch's plane to make small talk was to gather intelligence. 

Bill Clinton is a smart guy. Even his enemies wouldnt take that from him. Bill was on an intelligence mission to see what if anything he could glean from making small talk with Lynch and how she acted and related to him based on whatever she might know about the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton. Bill was smart enough never to go near questions related to the investigation. That wasnt his purpose. It was to use other means to see what he could find out.

 Was she cordial? Relaxed? Was she stiff and formal? Did she look him in the eye or evade his glance? Bill was looking for anything that would give him a clue, her body language, her voice inflection, her tone, anything. Did she seem at ease meaning everything with the FBI was hunky dory and there was nothing to worry about? Or was she a little tense, seem distracted, did small talk make her uneasy meaning Billary had a lot to worry about?

That was the purpose of Bill's intelligence mission. Except it showed a complete lack of intelligence since not only was it unethical for him to be there it put a spotlight on the investigation that had been going on in the background for some time and added  to public perceptions of Hillary as unethical  and dishonest. 

There was backlash from the meeting in every quarter except for Hillary's robots and has been so negative it put Hillary back on the defensive and made headlines everywhere. Even congressional Democrats admitted it looked bad and the meeting and its fallout has been front page lead news all around the country.

But Bill's gambit to have a one on one to see what he could learn by making small talk showed a lot more than bad judgement. And it's something no one is talking about. It showed that Bill and Hillary are very, very worried. About the investigation and its possible outcome.

Bill being married to Hillary knows how much she is worried. And Hillary knowing more than anyone else about what happened with her private server and why is giving every indication she knows she has something to worry about. 

So much so that Bill was willing to risk how bad the appearances were going to look to take the opportunity to ambush Lynch on her plane to see what he could learn. Inquiring minds wanted to know. Does Hillary have anything to worry about it or not? The risk Bill was willing to take was proportionate to how worried they are and how much they think there is something to worry about.

In all likelihood Bill learned nothing specific from Lynch's demeanor and at the same time made it a lot worse for Hillary. Its put the criminal investigation under even more scrutiny than before and everything the FBI and the DOJ does will be under a microscope. But it also raises questions about Hillary suddenly (yes suddenly) going in for her long awaited FBI interview this weekend.

It certainly wasn't scheduled. If Bill and Hillary knew  Hillary was  going to request an FBI interview this weekend there is  no way even Bill Clinton would have risked trying to see Lynch days before. The fact that Hillary Clinton's request came so soon after Bill's meeting is enough to suggest it had everything to do with what Bill surmised from the meeting.

The FBI has made witness schedules public in the past for Clinton's staff. They were no secret. They are scheduled well in advance. This is to give witnesses time to prepare, refresh their recollection as lawyers like to say and allows them to arrange a day and time so their lawyers can be present. The interview this weekend wasn't previously scheduled and could only have been a last minute result of  Bill's impromptu ambush of Lynch. 

Hillary had been the last person on the witness list for a long time. Too long. If the FBI had nothing they would have called Hillary Clinton as the last witness a long time ago. They were content to continue the investigation without questioning her. That it was getting this close to the convention without her being called for an interview would be something to worry about it if your Bill or Hillary or a supporter. There has to be a reason Hillary forced the issue this weekend.

Bryan Pagliano, the IT pro who set up her email server first pled the 5th on the advice of his criminal defense lawyer who clearly believes Pagliano committed one or more federal offenses. The FBI gave him immunity and he talked. Since everything he did was at Clinton's direction it would be hard to think that if Pagliano committed an offense Clinton didn't. But we will soon know.

People are free to speculate what conclusions Bill mightve drawn that forced Hillary into the impromptu FBI meeting. Did Bill feel everything was good so now was the time to go? Or did he get a sense things weren't going well and thought Hillary better get in there and do damage control? 

Anyone's guess would be valid. Mine is the latter. If you think things are going well you leave well enough alone and go on with your business. But if you think there might be trouble, now would be the time to get in there and try and right the ship. I think Bill smelled trouble and told Hillary to get in there ASAP,especially since it's a holiday weekend when people are paying less attention to the news.

With the Democratic convention only a month away it is a certainty the FBI will not let the issue go until after the convention opens July 25. With Clinton the front runner for the nomination (she still does not have enough delegates for the nomination and needs 67 more of the remaining 137 non committed) its inconceivable the FBI or DOJ would wait till after the nomination process if they are going to indict Clinton or recommend charges.

Whatever is going to happen will be within the next 3 weeks.

But what Bill did in throwing appearances to the wind in order to find out anything he could gives the appearance of being desperate. And since Bill knows what Hillary knows maybe they think they have good reason to be.

One other thing to keep in mind: indictments are only issued for felonies not misdemeanors. For anyone who thinks misdemeanors are trivial, like a parking ticket,former general and CIA  Director David Patraeus pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge in his case of mishandling classified material. It resulted in his losing his job,losing his security clearance for life and 5 years probation. There could be no indictments and Clinton could still be charged with misdemeanors serious enough to end her candidacy.

If the FBI does have the evidence to warrant an indictment or multiple indictments  or charges of any kind, we are going to know by July 25. One way or the other  the case and its conclusions will be made public before July 25th.

Obviously Bill and Hillary couldn't wait.