MESSAGE
DATE | 2016-11-01 |
FROM | Rick Moen
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SUBJECT | Re: [Hangout-NYLXS] Meanwhile, in the land of 'Who, me?'
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Hey, look whose killfile doesn't work! Maybe you've decided you'd like
a lifeline back from CloudCuckooLand to conventional reality?
Quoting Ruben Safir (mrbrklyn-at-panix.com):
> that is not for you to decide, thank god, but is part of due process.
If _litigated_, it's for the courts. If part of consideration for voting,
it's up to the voters. Sorry, Ruben, I _do_ get to have a view about
who's been a scumbucket and flim-flammed the courts and the public. So
do you, if you wish.
And in particular, not to put too fine a point on it, up to people who
really ought to be familiar with the Trump dynasty's unpleasant history
in NYC business affairs (not counting that one ice rink that he's still
milking for free advertising, ~thirty years later).
> Your "massive" violation of the law, which is only your opinion and it
> sucks btw, hasn't landed him in Jail for contempt of court, so evidently
> his lawyers seem to know what they are doing better than you do, and his
> businesses still function.
"Unindicted co-conspirator." Hey, I remember that! Glory days.
> Meanwhile, this is not the role of the Secretary of State so either it
> is lost upon you, which I doubt because your a very smart man, that she
> is under criminal investigation....
This is not clearly the case, at all.
FBI is attempting to determine whether unstated persons might have
committed unstated crimes. Certainly Clinton _might_ be the focus of
FBI's current interest. But nobody outside the alt-right, white-power
Trumpista crowd has said so, and certainly the FBI hasn't.
In the current matter (the mind-bogglingly vague Director Comey letter,
dropped into the press 11 days before the election), there has been no
indication whatsoever about what is being investigated, nor what was in
the e-mails Comey spoke of on Anthony Weiner's computing device. It's a
whole lot of non-information and innuendo. He said merely that e-mails
had been found on Weiner's computer that 'could be linked to the probe
of Hillary Clinton’s emails', but absolutely nothing about what on God's
green earth that means, nor about what those e-mails contain or who sent
what to whom. And he lamely added, "I don't know whether or not this
[new] material may be significant." And then he refused to explain
himself, and waltzed off in a cloud of zero public transparency
(the same transparency that he claimed was his byword and objective, a
few months ago during his July public appearance).
There is actually no reason to believe that he even knows _what_ the
mysterious e-mails say -- judging by his comprehensive talking around
that point.
It is inherent in FBI 'investigations' that one often has no clear
idea whether a criminal indictment will be issued by some AG at the end
of the process or not, and if so against whom. You always have to wait
until you see whether FBI have decided there's something to refer to the
Justice Department, and if Justice Department decides to open a case.
What _is_ clear is that Director Comey went (through misadventure?)
rogue, ignoring long-standing guidelines that the Justice Department or
the FBI not release information about investigations within 60 days of
an election. And Comey's publicly a longtime Republican. What's bad
about that is that this is indistinguishable from a Joe McCarthy slur
in violation of the ethics of his office, and against the advice of the
Justice Department, tactically timed so that the truth cannot be known
until long after the innuendo's damage has occurred. I don't think it
_was_ that (but rather a mistake), but it's unfortunately
indistinguishable in its effects from one.
Comey's basically made sure nobody will ever respect or trust him again.
He'll be paying the personal cost the rest of his life, including
probably losing his job shortly after the election no matter _who_ takes
the Presidency. Because at best he's revealed to be a political
liability, loose cannon, and clumsy hack, and at worst a hatchet-man
rather than an FBI Director.
This colossal professional mistake -- again, being decently charitable
about it being a gaffe rather than a tactic -- provably isn't anywhere
near enough to change the election outcome for the Presidency, in part
because there just aren't undecideds left unless a few hermits and
fishermen swept out to see suddenly show up -- and because 22 million
people have already cast early-voting and absentee ballots.
But it's possible a few Senate seats might swing.
I honestly do feel bad for Director Comey. Pretty much everyone has
commented that this was a clear, large blunder, but I doubt he has any
avenue remaining for fixing that mistake.
> they are investigating her __routinely hiding government documents__
> on her private email server in order to hide them from other
> government agencies which are assigned to oversee her in her role as a
> government official.
No, they haven't said what they're currently investigating. Nor whom
they are currently suspecting, and what they're suspecting that person
or persons of.
> One is private business. The other is government business. Even you
> can understand they are not the same thing.
As has been repeatedly established including by the head of the FBI,
this is a bad practice indulged by her and by many at the State
Department, before her -- that is not illegal in itself, but against
State Department guidelines having no legal force. And she stopped
doing it because it was a bad idea, and admitted that it had been a
mistake, period. Following which an investigation occurred concluding
in no grounds for prosecution. (Which can change in the future, but
that is always the case.)
All of the efforts to turn that into criminal activity have so far been
as laughable as the "Hilary assassinated Vince Foster" and 'Hillary
assassinated Ron Brown" idiocy, and I have little expectation that the
unbelievably non-specific Comey letter will do so, either. It seems
obvious to me that the idea is to drum up a furious round of innuendo
for nine more days, and then it'll all vanish into Breitbart / Infowars
conspiracy hysteria and no longer have big money behind promoting it.
And you'll have been among the many who'll have been played for a
sucker.
So, you willing to bet that $100, or not? I'm willing to take your
money at the end of 2017.
Oh, and by the way, you never addressed upthread questions like:
So, here's a question that I figure even a voter willing to fall for the
Border Wall Paid for by Mexico scam can understand: Let's say you're an
Algerian ISIS terrorist looking to commit destruction inside the USA.
Do you (1) apply for immigration to the USA, going through the current
incarnation of 'extreme vetting', or (2) get a tourist visa?
Speaking of that, the very easiest way (out of many) to see that the
Border Wall Paid for by Mexico is idiotic is to remember that over half
of all illegal immigrants in the USA arrived lawfully and merely stayed
after their visas expired. Border walls inherently cannot address that.
Mr. Trump:
Thinks global warming is a hoax invented by the Chinese(!).
Seriously alleged in public that there is no California drought.
Doesn't understand the military and intends to 'fire generals'.
Has a cavalier attitude to the use of nuclear weapons.
Would casually take steps to undermine NATO.
Proposes massive deregulation to benefit the rich.
Is incompetent in foreign affairs.
Is incompetent in basic economics.
Wants to introduce economic protectionism and thinks this won't hurt us.
Has the self-control of a two-year-old.
Is delusional (or worse) about immigration.
Is happy to base his entire campain on sexism, racial hatred,
religious bigotry, nativism, hatred of immigrants, and
conspiracy thinking.
Encourages lawbreaking.
Uses the rhetoric of a 1930s dictator, except dumbed down to 4th
grade reading levels.
Whimsically wants to discard just about every democratic norm,
the First Amendment, and peaceful transfer of Executive Branch power.
Wants to send reproductive freedom back to the Dark Ages.
Goes into Twitter rage-spews over 1970s beauty contestants at 3-5am.
Goes on Twitter attacks against bereaved Gold Star parents.
The list can go on and on. One of these candidates is flawed but
competent, the other would be a menace even as dogcatcher, and cannot be
taken seriously. He's not the leader of anything. He's an emotionally
labile buffoon.
And the Comey bullshit is a fart in the wind, compared to that.
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