"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Thursday, July 07, 2016

The Clinton E-Mail Scandal, Liberal Redneck Style (Update)

This sort of sums up my feelings about the whole "scandal":


Footnote: Jason Chaffetz (R-Spanish Inquisition) has already called on FBI Director James Comey to testify on the investigation; any bets on whether Loretta Lynch is next?

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Wednesday said the Justice Department has decided not to pursue charges against Hillary Clinton or her aides and will close the investigation into her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state. . . .

“Late this afternoon, I met with FBI Director James Comey and career prosecutors and agents who conducted the investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email system during her time as Secretary of State,” Lynch said. “I received and accepted their unanimous recommendation that the thorough, year-long investigation be closed and that no charges be brought against any individuals within the scope of the investigation.”

Do read the whole article, but keep in mind that it's Politico, not the most left-friendly site on the Internet. And as for Comey's press conference, keep in mind also that he is a Republican, appointed by George W. Bush, and is no friend to the Clintons. Given that, I'm not surprised that he took the opportunity to slam Hillary Clinton as much as he could, but I find it illuminating that he couldn't find anything to hang a prosecution on. There's a lot of "may have beens" and "possiblys" in his statements. Take them for what they're worth, which in my book is simply nothing.

Update: Here's a good dissection of Comey's press conference. Pretty much bears out my take.

None of this would have even made it into a court of law, or even a halfway-decent newspaper, but because Comey got to stand there and testify unilaterally against Hillary Clinton for 15 minutes, no one gets to make Comey look like a fool for contradicting himself, and for engaging in the sort of rank speculation that courts of law are designed to weed out, and which competent editors relegate to spaces like Alex Jones‘ Infowars.

You can bet Comey will be handled with kid gloves when he testifies before whatever spin-off of the Witch-Hunt Committee the teabaggers come up with.


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